SPA FRANCORCHAMPS // For a moment, on the 35th lap of the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton's heart was in his mouth. The rain had been getting heavier for a couple of laps and he had contemplated a tyre change. Once he passed the pit entry, however, he was committed to at least one more lap on dry tyres before he could get back around and put on some intermediate tyres. The problem was that was then the deluge arrived.
Up at Rivage, a downhill right-hander, Hamilton locked a wheel and his McLaren-Mercedes speared wide into the gravel. "My front wing just kissed the tyre wall," he said, "but somebody was definitely looking after me today." Mostly, though, he took care of himself en route to his third Formula One victory of the year, a result that has restored his championship advantage. Hamilton took the lead at the start, when Red Bull-Renault's Mark Webber, the pole position holder, faltered on the line.
"It happened at the start of the formation lap, too," Webber said. "I changed the clutch settings on my way to the grid - and it was even worse for the start proper." He dropped to sixth while Hamilton led from Robert Kubica (Renault), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Jenson Button (McLaren). Before the lap was out the circuit was hit by a brief rain shower, which caused most of the leaders to skate wide at the final chicane, although the only serious casualty was Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth). In his 300th grand prix, the Brazilian was unable to stop and harpooned Fernando Alonso's Ferrari. "It's a disappointing end to what had been a positive weekend," Barrichello said, "but I'm confident my 301st race will be better."
Alonso pitted and switched to wet tyres, as did several lower-order drivers, and the safety car was dispatched. Before it intervened, however, Kubica almost lost control on the long, uphill Kemmel Straight, which caused Vettel to slow and allowed Button to pass both of them. Webber passed Massa at the same time. The shower was brief and all those on wet tyres switched back to dries before the race resumed at the end of lap three. Hamilton immediately pulled away from his teammate. The order at the front remained unchanged until lap 16, when Vettel lost control under braking for the chicane and slewed into Button. The world champion was out on the spot, but Vettel continued after pitting for a replacement front wing.
With the threat of serious rain never far away, the leaders stayed out for as long as possible, hoping to synchronise their mandatory tyre stops with a change in the weather, but the pace was starting to take its toll on rear tyres and at half-distance Webber came in for fresh rubber, followed swiftly by Kubica and Hamilton. The order remained unchanged. The race's complexion altered again on lap 34, when the rain arrived in earnest. The leading four drivers passed the pit entry, while fifth-placed Adrian Sutil steered his Force India-Mercedes into the pits - and most others followed.
Moments later Hamilton slithered off the road before heading for the pits, with Kubica, Webber and Massa doing likewise. Kubica overshot his marker, however, and the time lost allowed Webber to grab second. "I had to alter a number of settings on the steering wheel, prior to the tyre change," Kubica said. "I think I became distracted." The safety car would appear once more - Alonso crashed his Ferrari as the rain intensified - but Hamilton was able to complete the distance without further drama, beating Webber by 1.5seconds and taking a three point championship lead.
Massa and Sutil completed the top five, while Nico Rosberg passed Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher towards the end of the race to take sixth, from Kamui Kobatashi (Sauber), Vitaly Petrov (Renault) and Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso). Alguersuari was given a 20 second penalty for short-cutting a chicane on the final lap, however, and the final point was awarded to Tonio Liuzzi, the Force-India driver.
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