Hamilton snatches dramatic victory at Belgian GP

Sep 7, 2008, 15:50 GMT

British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton (R) of McLaren Mercedes celebrates with champagne and the third German Formula One driver Nick Heidfeld (L) of BMW Sauber on the podium after he wins the Formula One Grand Prix of Belgium in Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, on 07 September 2008. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium - Lewis Hamilton grabbed a dramatic victory at Formula One's Belgian Grand Prix after rain led to a chaotic but thrilling climax at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday.

The McLaren-Mercedes driver had to fight to keep his car on the track after he had duelled with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who slid off into a wall on the penultimate lap.

Both Hamilton and Raikkonen were being investigated by race stewards over their late battle for the lead.

Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa finished second, while BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld's gamble to make a late change of wet-weather tyres paid off when he jumped from eighth to finish third.

Renault's Fernando Alonso, who also made a late tyre change, was fourth ahead of Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso), with Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) sixth, Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Ross) seventh, and Timo Glock (Toyoto) eighth.

The victory puts Hamilton on 80 points in the drivers' standings, extending his lead over Massa (72), with Kubica (58) moving third ahead of Raikkonen (57), whose hopes of winning the 2008 title are now fast dwindling.

Raikkonen led for most of the race on Spa's 7.003-kilometre circuit, the longest on the F1 calendar, and after a brilliant start from fourth on the grid appeared to be on his way to a fourth successive Belgian GP win.

But rain which begun to fall with six laps remaining led to a dramatic race climax as Hamilton closed in and the two duelled for the lead over the final laps.

Hamilton was forced to cut a chicane at the end of lap 42 of the 44 laps as Raikkonen defended an overtaking challenge.

Emerging back on the track in front, the 23-year-old Briton allowed Raikkonen to overtake but immediately launched another attack on the straight to go past the Ferrari.

Both drivers then struggled to retain any sort of grip. Hamilton slid off to hand the lead back to Raikkonen, who almost immediately lost it again by spinning on the greasy surface, before his race ended when he lost all control and thudded into a wall.

'It was an experience and a half,' Hamilton said.

'I was praying for rain. I wanted it to come because I knew how to deal with it. The heavens opened and I saw Kimi begin to back off and to brake a bit earlier.

'I was going reasonably wide at turn 12 but (Nico) Rosberg spun and went off where I was coming back on. I went over the grass. It was incredibly tough.

'Kimi pushed me wide. I was a little bit ahead. I was outside on turn one, I had no room and he basically pushed me so I went on the escape route. So I let him past, then got in his tow and he was ducking and diving left and right but I managed to get past him and I was pretty much gone from there.'

Referring to the race stewards' investigation, Raikkonen said: 'There are rules about cutting chicanes and getting an advantage but I don't have much to say about it.'

Raikkonen won the Belgian GP in 2004, 2005 and 2007 - with Spa absent in 2006 from the F1 calendar - and led the way after capitalizing on an early spin by Hamilton.

Hamilton had got off to a good start from pole but spun on the first corner of lap two, and Raikkonen, who had earlier squeezed past team-mate Massa, took advantage to take the lead.

Hamilton kept within a second of Raikkonen, but after a first pit stop on the 11th lap he got caught behind traffic and the Finn emerged from his pit stop a lap later with a more comfortable lead.

By the half-way mark Raikkonen enjoyed a six-second lead on Hamilton, with Massa remaining third ahead of Alonso.

Both Hamilton and Raikkonen came in for a second fuel stop and a change from soft to hard tyres, and Hamilton was able to narrow the gap to under two seconds.

With dark clouds gathering over the circuit, the question was whether the rain which was forecast would come in time to add some spice to the race. The answer came when the first few drops turned into a shower with three laps remaining.

For Hamilton the rain could not have come at a better time, while Raikkonen was left cursing his bad luck for a second successive race after engine failure left him out of the points at the European GP at Valencia two weeks ago.

Hamilton finished the race in 1 hour 22 minutes 44.933 seconds, 14.461 seconds ahead of Massa and 23.844 seconds up on Heidfeld.

Raikkonen's last Grand Prix win was in April, and he badly needs a good showing before Ferrari fans at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza next Sunday to stay in the championship race.

With five races left of the season, Ferrari lead the constructors' championships on 129 points, with McLaren on 123 and BMW Sauber on 105.