The Complete 2008 Belgian GP Review

It should be remembered as one of the most thrilling (and slightly surreal) finishes in Formula One history, but instead the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix ended in post-race controversy after the stewards' decision to penalise on-the-road victor Lewis Hamilton and effectively hand the win to his title rival Felipe Massa.

McLaren's intention to appeal could yet result in a further change, but for the time being at least, the race victory belongs to Massa, who has consequently closed to within two points of Hamilton in the standings.

Massa had a strong weekend - topping Friday practice by a comfortable margin, taking second on the grid with a relatively heavy fuel load, and driving a solid race that looked set to result in third place.

However there is no question that either Raikkonen or particularly Hamilton would have been more deserving winners of this race, Raikkonen having delivered a commanding, reinvigorated, performance until the rain shower, and Hamilton having capitalised on the change in conditions so spectacularly.

The stewards insisted that Hamilton had gained an advantage by cutting the Bus Stop chicane while dicing with Raikkonen. There was no doubt he missed the corner. Whether he had to or not was a moot point - he insisted Raikkonen had squeezed him out and the only alternative was contact.

The actual issue was whether Hamilton did enough when he then backed off and let Raikkonen past. The officials appeared to be intimating that Hamilton should have allowed Raikkonen a clear run into the next corner rather than immediately re-passing him at La Source.

Before the penalty was even announced, Hamilton was defending his actions.

"This is motor racing and if there's a penalty, then there's something wrong because I was ahead going into that corner, so I didn't gain an advantage from it," said Hamilton. "We were still able to race at the next corner and I gave him his spot back, and I think it was fair and square."

McLaren believe they have excellent grounds for their appeal.

"We looked at all our data and also made it available to the FIA stewards. It showed that, having lifted, Lewis was 6km/h slower than Kimi as they crossed the start/finish line," said a team statement.

They also insisted that they would not let this controversy overshadow their preparations for Monza. Striking back on Ferrari's home ground could be very satisfying for McLaren, and even Stefano Domenicali expects them to be very quick in Italy.

"Monza for us is not really the ideal track also because we are expecting not really high temperatures, so the only thing we can do is really to try to work very, very hard, because we know that McLaren is very, very strong above all in Monza," he said.

One thing's for sure - whatever happens next with the appeal and the Spa result, Hamilton and McLaren will arrive at Monza extremely determined to make up for being denied victory in Belgium. They weren't exactly short of motivation, but after the events of Spa, getting back on the top step of the podium in Italy is now more vital than ever for McLaren.

Practice

Practice one - Friday am

Opening practice was all about Felipe Massa. The Valencia winner was the first man to set a time, and then stayed fastest for the majority of the morning, bar a brief period when his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen edged ahead.

Raikkonen remained second, followed by the two McLarens, with Lewis Hamilton faster than Heikki Kovalainen having escaped a trip through the gravel at Les Combes.

Renault's Fernando Alonso was the biggest threat to the usual 'big four' all session and took fifth, ahead of Mark Webber, who thrust his Red Bull up the order right at the end, pushing the impressive Toro Rossos back to seventh and eighth. Sebastian Vettel contributed much of the session's entertainment with his exuberant driving - including a wild leap over the Les Combes grass.

Further back, Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil lost mileage due to electrical and damper problems respectively, while the Hondas ended up slowest of all as they grappled with tyre warm-up issues.

Practice two - Friday pm

After a dry morning, rain intervened in the afternoon, meaning that most of the quick times were set either in the opening minutes or the final few laps.

In-between, there were a variety of incidents. Webber put his Red Bull into the Rivage tyre barriers before he could set a time, Alonso visited the Stavelot gravel, and Raikkonen spun his Ferrari into the wall at Turn 9. That incident then triggered another - as the impact released a large amount of water that had been collected in the tyres. As Raikkonen dragged his wing-less car back to the pits, he spread this water onto the corner's exit kerbs, and when the following Giancarlo Fisichella hit this surprise damp patch, his Force India was sent bouncing down the opposite barriers, causing a red flag.

Nelson Piquet provided the final incident with a near-exact repeat of Raikkonen's crash just after the running resumed, but Renault's fortunes then improved when Alonso threw in a 1:48.454 right at the end to snatch the top spot.

Massa, Kovalainen, long-time pace-setter Hamilton and Raikkonen filled the top five, with Nico Rosberg pleased to take sixth after a difficult morning. Vettel impressed again in seventh, but it was his countryman Sutil who really starred by taking eighth for Force India.

Practice three - Saturday am

With overnight rain being followed by further drizzle then more showers, final practice was a mostly wet affair. Only in the final 25 minutes were slick tyres worthwhile, and most of the main contenders waited in the pits until the last few minutes.

It was Nick Heidfeld who emerged fastest after the final scramble for space on dry tyres at the end of the hour, the BMW driver beating Kovalainen by 0.289 seconds, with Alonso, Hamilton and Massa next up, and Raikkonen back in seventh behind Vettel.

The session was a total disaster for Jenson Button, whose Honda cut out with a fuel pressure problem on the way out of Eau Rouge on his installation lap, sidelining him for the whole morning.

Qualifying

Part one

For a few minutes in Q1 it looked like Force India were on course for their finest qualifying result of the year. Adrian Sutil took 14th with his second run, with Giancarlo Fisichella just missing the cut in 16th.

But their hopes would be dashed as a host of displaced upper midfield cars improved at the eleventh hour. Timo Glock and Mark Webber escaped embarrassment and leapt into the top ten and the struggling Hondas both found a little time, pushing Sutil and Fisichella down to 18th and 20th - behind Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button, and split by Kazuki Nakajima's 'grip-less' Williams.

Force India technical boss Mike Gascoyne was optimistic that they could get their revenge in the race, though.

"We have shown that we have closed the gap to the Williams and the works Hondas," said Gascoyne. "Tomorrow we have to look to beat them out on the track."

Barrichello and Button weren't too dispirited about their Q1 elimination, having expected little better given Honda's poor form all weekend - and Button felt no shame in being beaten by his teammate considering his morning problems.

"My first lap in qualifying was the first lap I've done today," the Briton noted.

The session ended with a shock name at the head of the standings, with Sebastien Bourdais vaulting up the order at the last minute to grab the top spot.

"It was nice to see my name at the top of a timesheet," he said. "It's been a long time..."

Part two

This wasn't proving to be a good session for Toyota-engined cars. Nakajima was already on the sidelines, and by the end of Q2, so was his Williams teammate Nico Rosberg and both Toyotas.

Rosberg was slowest of all in the session, trailing even 14th-placed David Coulthard by a substantial 0.411 seconds - to the young German's surprise and displeasure.

"We knew that Spa was not going to be our best track, being this far back is unexpected and very disappointing," said Rosberg. "In one respect, my car was okay from a balance perspective, but there was a serious lack of grip."

The factory Toyota team's problem was an inability to warm the tyres sufficiently in the cool conditions. Timo Glock's last run was only good enough for 13th, while Jarno Trulli squeezed into the top ten only to be nudged back down to 11th as Bourdais and Webber leapt in front.

"This was one of our worst qualifying results this season and it means that obviously we got something wrong in our preparation work," said technical boss Pascal Vasselon. "It is not a satisfying result. We had a difficult time running around on quite a cold track. However that is the same for everyone and it is for us to handle the situation."

The Toyotas were split by Nelson Piquet's Renault in a typically close session that saw just 0.069 seconds covering 11th to 14th positions - although 11th-placed Trulli missed the top ten by a comparatively large 0.135 seconds.

Part three

Title contenders Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton kept a relatively low profile through Q1 and Q2, letting Bourdais take the limelight in Q1 and Heikki Kovalainen lead the way in the second segment.

But when it counted, Hamilton in particular was right on the pace. His first Q3 lap took him straight to a provisional pole on a 1:47.973, with Kovalainen backing him up in second place, while Massa's relatively scruffy effort left him back in fifth behind Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld.

Massa put a much better second lap together, finding a full second over his previous effort and knocking Hamilton off provisional pole with a 1:47.678 lap.

Yet even as the Ferrari crossed the line, Hamilton was already obliterating its best sector times, completing the lap in 1:47.338 to snatch pole position back again - much to the championship leader's delight.

"It is always satisfying when you can go out, do one lap and come back in and watch everyone else going around trying to get their laps done," smiled Hamilton. "Today the team made no mistakes and I made no mistakes. I had four great laps but especially at the end."

The result left Massa somewhat rueful, as he felt he had done everything in his power to earn pole, and wasn't convinced that Hamilton's advantage was fuel-related.

"I did a great lap, I did almost a perfect lap but it was not enough," he frowned.

"Sometimes you do a great lap and you are still missing something. These guys showed definitely a better performance than us and we need to understand why. For sure we don't know their fuel loads. But I think they were quicker in all three qualifying session."

Having held second initially, Kovalainen looked somewhat underwhelmed with his eventual third place, feeling he had lost time in the middle sector.

It was another mediocre qualifying session for Kimi Raikkonen, who ran wide through Malmedy and ended up fourth - but reckoned he could still chase a fourth straight Spa win from there.

"Of course, I'm a bit disappointed, as I would have liked to have done better: fourth place is far from ideal to go looking for the win, but it doesn't mean I've given up hope," he said. "I am reasonably happy with my car, which seems to be behaving the way I like."

Nick Heidfeld was delighted to return to the 'best of the rest' position - his habitual spot last year - in fifth, feeling that he had made an important breakthrough in recent tests, but his BMW teammate Robert Kubica wasn't so thrilled with eighth, the Pole puzzled by a lack of grip.

Fernando Alonso maintained his strong practice form to take sixth, and with Toyota off the pace, hoped that position would be the springboard to a useful points haul to close the gap to the Japanese squad in the constructors' championship.

Also living up to their practice promise were the Toro Rosso duo, who filled row five. Sebastian Vettel conserved fuel and went for just one Q3 run, and his heavier fuel load and an error left him behind Sebastien Bourdais in 10th.

"A couple of tenths is all that separated us from sixth or seventh," said the very satisfied Bourdais. "It's beginning to come together and it's been a good weekend so far."

While Toro Rosso's achievements were not really a surprise given their practice performances, for Webber to get the senior Red Bull team as high as seventh after a very mixed start to the weekend was somewhat unexpected.

"We've got more pace here than in Valencia," said Webber. "It was a stress to get into Q3, it was very tight as usual and all the drivers were pretty evenly matched. We're in a reasonable position to mount an attack for some points."

Qualifying results

Pos  Driver       Team                 Q1        Q2        Q3       Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     1:46.887  1:46.088  1:47.338  12
 2.  Massa        Ferrari              1:46.873  1:46.391  1:47.678  16
 3.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     1:46.812  1:46.037  1:47.815  16
 4.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              1:46.960  1:46.298  1:47.992  14
 5.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           1:47.419  1:46.311  1:48.315  18
 6.  Alonso       Renault              1:47.154  1:46.491  1:48.504  18
 7.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     1:47.270  1:46.814  1:48.736  19
 8.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           1:47.093  1:46.494  1:48.763  20
 9.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:46.777  1:46.544  1:48.951  19
10.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:47.152  1:46.804  1:50.319  16
11.  Trulli       Toyota               1:47.400  1:46.949            13
12.  Piquet       Renault              1:47.052  1:46.965            15
13.  Glock        Toyota               1:47.359  1:46.995            13
14.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     1:47.132  1:47.018            15
15.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota      1:47.503  1:47.429            12
16.  Barrichello  Honda                1:48.153                       9
17.  Button       Honda                1:48.211                       9
18.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  1:48.226                       9
19.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      1:48.268                       9
20.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  1:48.447                       9

The Race

The events of the final three laps of the Belgian Grand Prix made the previous 41 somewhat irrelevant - and then the post-race controversy meant that even the astounding last gasp dramas turned out to be a little meaningless.

The start had already been fairly bizarre. Pre-race rain meant that the track was damp from the Bus Stop to Eau Rouge, but with the rest of the course all but dry, everyone opted for slick tyres.

That inevitably meant a chaotic opening lap. Lewis Hamilton got away smoothly from pole, while Kimi Raikkonen slid wide over the La Source run-off but found enough grip to emerge from the corner in third. He then grabbed second by out-pacing his over-cautious teammate Felipe Massa through Eau Rouge and breezing ahead on the Kemmel Straight - although his jink towards the sister Ferrari as he completed the move prompted raised eyebrows from the Brazilian.

"It was a little bit strange as he was going to pass me as he was already much quicker," said Massa, although Raikkonen summarily dismissed their near-miss: "It is racing," he shrugged, "we didn't touch."

A poor start had immediately cost Heikki Kovalainen ground, and McLaren's Finn was then in the wrong place at La Source as Jarno Trulli - who had made a jaw-dropping getaway from 11th and was fighting for fourth into the corner - was hit up the rear by Sebastien Bourdais' Toro Rosso.

As the two cars speared across the track, Kovalainen, Nick Heidfeld and Sebastian Vettel were all forced to take avoiding action over the run-off, dropping all three outside the top ten. Further scruffiness at the back of the pack saw Kazuki Nakajima spin his Williams into Giancarlo Fisichella's path, leaving the Force India with a broken front wing and punctures, although Nakajima - like Trulli and Bourdais - managed to straighten up and continue with minimal delay.

A confident first lap from Hamilton saw him establishing a 1.5-second lead over Raikkonen, only for the Briton to spin at La Source as he started lap two.

"I got away and I was feeling comfortable," said Hamilton. "The difficulty was that bits of the track were still wet, so I was having to make sure I got the braking right. I think on the last downshift it just locked the rears. It was a pretty pathetic spin but there was nothing I could do about it."

A rapid spin-turn kept Hamilton in the lead into Eau Rouge - helped by Raikkonen having to take to the run-off to miss the McLaren - but the Ferrari had much more momentum and swept through on the approach to Les Combes.

For the next 40-odd laps, it seemed Raikkonen was on course for the breakthrough victory that while not quite being enough to thrust him into the thick of title contention, would certainly have silenced much of the talk about his motivation and future.

He couldn't quite shake Hamilton off in the first stint as the track dried, but with the McLaren stopping a lap earlier and then getting trapped behind Bourdais and Robert Kubica until they pitted, Raikkonen was able to establish a five-second lead by the middle of the race.

Hamilton found more pace on the harder tyres in the long final stint, and closed to within a second of Raikkonen going into the final laps, but still the Ferrari looked in control, despite the clouds looming on the horizon...

Massa couldn't keep pace with the top two early on, although he ran heavier in both stints - stopping two laps later than Hamilton in the first pit sequence, and three laps later at the final stops. That kept him within six seconds of the lead going into the denouement.

When the track was still damp, Massa was having trouble shaking off the determined Fernando Alonso, but once the top three were able to get into their stride, the Renault fell away into a solitary fourth place - too far back to fight for the podium, but comfortably clear of Bourdais and Kubica's battle for fifth.

In what was comfortably his most convincing Formula One performance so far, Bourdais held fifth and resisted pressure from Kubica for most of the afternoon, finally getting clear of the BMW when difficulty connecting the fuel nozzle dropped Kubica down to eighth at the final stops.

Bourdais still had the recovering Vettel and Heidfeld, plus Kubica, on his tail, though, with Kovalainen rapidly catching this battle in the closing stages. The Finn had charged through the field following his first corner delay, only to receive a drivethrough penalty for a clumsy move on Mark Webber's Red Bull at the Bus Stop chicane on lap 10.

Webber lost two places in the incident, which also rather spoilt his aggressive light fuel strategy, and meant he went into the closing laps stuck behind one-stopper Timo Glock in 11th. Further back, Nico Rosberg ran a lonely 12th, and David Coulthard held a distant 13th having lost ground early on in a spectacular battle with fellow veteran Rubens Barrichello, who ultimately retired with gearbox problems.

Adrian Sutil had also got amongst the Hondas and Coulthard with an early charge, only to lose ground with a trip over the grass and gravel at Fagnes on lap eight. That left him 16th, behind Nakajima and Jenson Button, but ahead of Trulli - whose brush with Bourdais had caused rear bodywork and gearbox damage, sending the Toyota tumbling down the order - and the delayed Fisichella.

Despite the tricky conditions early on, only one driver found the wall in the opening part of the race, as Nelson Piquet spun into the Fagnes barrier when running 11th. The sole driver to start on hard slicks, he had run as high as seventh initially before his heavy one-stop fuel load saw him lose places.

Had the weather remained consistent, the race would have finished with Raikkonen back on top, Hamilton extending his championship lead, and Massa a muted third. But it wasn't going to be quite that simple, as another rain shower intervened and created arguably the most thrilling and bizarre end to a race since the 1982 Monaco GP.

The rain started falling over the middle sector with three laps to go - answering Hamilton's prayers.

"I was just praying, I was saying please just rain, rain, rain," he said. "I wanted the rain to come because I knew how to deal with it. The heavens opened a little bit and I saw Kimi begin to back off a little bit and that was really where I knew it was on, the fight was on."

As the first man to encounter the slippery areas, Raikkonen understandably eased off, instantly allowing Hamilton to get a run on him towards the Bus Stop chicane. Hamilton edged ahead on the outside, but Raikkonen braked later and got into the corner first, then claimed the line for the second part of the complex.

Running out of space, Hamilton cut across the run-off area and emerged in front, then heeded the team's call to back off and let Raikkonen re-pass. The Ferrari was first across the line, with the McLaren tucked back in behind it, but whether Hamilton had acquiesced sufficiently would turn out to be the crucial moment of the race.

"I understood I had to let him past, so I did," said Hamilton. "That was a great fight and I don't think there was anything wrong there. The rules say you should let him back past, which I did."

"There are rules about cutting chicanes and gaining an advantage..." countered Raikkonen.

He didn't stay behind for long, though, jinking back out from behind Raikkonen and diving down the inside at La Source. Raikkonen swung wide and tried to cut back in on the exit, but found the McLaren sat firmly on the apex of the corner, giving it a slight inadvertent nudge.

By the time they reached the second sector, the track was becoming properly wet. They both held on to slides at Les Combes and Rivage, then escaped running wide over the run-off at Pouhon, but then came across the spinning Rosberg at Fagnes.

Hamilton was already sliding towards the grass when the Williams came back onto the track ahead of him, and the McLaren ended up off the road and back down to second...

"He was coming back on exactly where I was going off, so I nearly crashed into the side of him," admitted Hamilton.

The lead was only relinquished for a few seconds however, as Raikkonen then looped into a spin on the exit of the same corner. He quickly regained momentum and was determined to strike back at Hamilton, only to lose control again on the way out of Blanchimont and this time slam into the wall.

"I was prepared to win or lose, but unfortunately went off," said Raikkonen. "I only wanted to win."

Hamilton then just had to hold on for one more tentative lap. Massa was no threat, choosing to back right off to avoid replicating his teammate's fate, so after one of the slowest final laps in history, Hamilton crossed the line 14.4 seconds in front to clinch what should have been one of his finest victories yet... had the stewards not objected to his Bus Stop incident and applied a 25-second penalty.

That dropped the Briton to third, and gave Massa a very unexpected win. Whether the results remain that way after McLaren's appeal remains to be seen, but whatever the rights and wrongs of Hamilton's chicane cutting and subsequent change of position, for such an outstanding race to change victor two hours after the chequered flag was deeply disappointing.

While the leaders braved it out on slicks, several others decided that the track was getting so wet it was worth switching tyres even with only two laps left. Heidfeld, both Williams, Glock, Coulthard and Button all dived in, following the lapped Fisichella's example, while Alonso moved up to third when Raikkonen crashed, only to then make a late decision to change tyres on the final lap.

Normally such a late pitstop would be madness, but for Heidfeld it was a stroke of genius. Conditions were now so perfect for intermediates that on the last lap he out-paced Hamilton by 35 seconds and Massa by an unbelievable 44 seconds!

Although Bourdais had stayed on slicks and risen to third, he could barely keep the Toro Rosso on the road, and given the uncertainty over his F1 future, was keen not to risk a last lap crash.

That meant he fell behind Vettel and Kubica, but all three were powerless to resist Heidfeld as he simply drove around them and snatched an unlikely third place (which would become second post-race) - having started the last lap eighth!

Alonso also made up for his late pitstop by storming back through to fourth, accelerating past Vettel and Kubica in the final yards. Bourdais ended up seventh, with Glock getting up to eighth on his intermediates only to fall to ninth again when penalised for passing Webber - who reclaimed the final point - under yellow.

Kovalainen was set for at least seventh place, only for his McLaren to come to a halt on the final lap, leaving him 10th in the classification. Coulthard narrowly beat Rosberg and the slick-shod Sutil to 11th, Nakajima fended off Button for 14th, with Trulli and Fisichella trailing home 16th and 17th, while the results sheets would list Raikkonen in 18th place in a race he could and probably should have won.

Race results (pending appeal)

44 laps; 308.052km;
Weather: Cloudy, damp.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  1h22:59.394
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +     9.383
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    10.539 (inc. 25s penalty)
 4.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    14.478
 5.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    14.576
 6.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    15.037
 7.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    16.735
 8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    42.776
 9.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +  1:07.045 (inc. 25s penalty)
10.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap
11.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Button        Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:47.930

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Barrichello   Honda                 (B)    21
Piquet        Renault               (B)    14


World Championship standings, round 13:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Hamilton      76        1.  Ferrari               131
 2.  Massa         74        2.  McLaren-Mercedes      119
 3.  Kubica        58        3.  BMW Sauber            107
 4.  Raikkonen     57        4.  Toyota                 41
 5.  Heidfeld      49        5.  Renault                36
 6.  Kovalainen    43        6.  Red Bull-Renault       25
 7.  Trulli        26        7.  Williams-Toyota        17
 8.  Alonso        23        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari     17
 9.  Webber        19        9.  Honda                  14
10.  Glock         15
11.  Vettel        13
12.  Piquet        13
13.  Barrichello   11
14.  Rosberg        9
15.  Nakajima       8
16.  Coulthard      6
17.  Bourdais       4
18.  Button         3

Team-by-Team

Raikkonen crashes on Friday, qualifies an underwhelming fourth, yet charges to the front early in the race and leads the majority of it - only to crash out in the late rain shower, just after losing the lead to Hamilton (twice).

Massa dominates opening practice and takes second on the grid, but is overshadowed in the race. Yet he ends up elevated from third to first when Raikkonen crashes and Hamilton is penalised.

Heidfeld shows better form to qualify fifth, but is pushed wide at the first corner and loses a lot of places. He recovers well but looks set for seventh until deciding to pit for intermediates in the late rain shower. That sets up a gallant charge from eighth to third, which becomes second post-race, on the final lap.

Kubica is less happy with his car and starts eighth. He spends most of the race battling with Bourdais for fifth, until losing ground with a poor final stop. He stays on dry tyres at the end and finishes sixth.

Alonso tops second practice and snaps at the title contenders' heels all weekend. He qualifies sixth and runs fourth for most of the race, briefly holding third when Raikkonen crashes before deciding to switch to intermediates. He loses several places, but gets back to fourth as the slick runners flounder.

Piquet crashes on Friday, takes 12th on the grid, then runs seventh on a heavy fuel load early in the race before steadily dropping back to 11th, He then crashes out after 13 laps.

Rosberg is frustrated to only manage 15th on the grid, having expected better from the team at Spa. Nakajima fares much worse though, starting 19th.

The race is little better. Both cars run a one-stop strategy and change to intermediates at the end, but Rosberg can only finish 12th and Nakajima takes 14th, having spun into Fisichella on the first lap.

Webber crashes on Friday afternoon but takes seventh on the grid as Red Bull show better form than in Valencia. He holds an early sixth, but is shoved into a spin by Kovalainen, dropping him into traffic at an inopportune time for his light fuel strategy.

The Australian gets back to eighth in the late rain confusion, loses the place to Glock, then regains it when the German is penalised for passing under yellow.

Coulthard has a muted weekend, qualifying 14th and finishing 13th after an entertaining early dice with Barrichello.

Tyre warm-up issues leave Trulli and Glock only 11th and 13th on the grid, to the team's frustration.

Trulli makes an astonishing start and challenges for a top four spot into La Source, only to be hit from behind by Bourdais. The resultant damage ruins Trulli's race and he tumbles to 16th.

Glock makes good progress on a one-stop strategy, changes to intermediates at the end and snatches eighth from Webber, but loses the place when he is adjudged to have passed the Red Bull under yellow.

Another strong weekend sees Bourdais topping Q1 and both cars reaching Q3 again, where they share row five (Bourdais ahead).

Bourdais hits Trulli at the start - in an incident that also causes Vettel to go wide and lose places - and sustains nose damage, yet shrugs it off and runs fifth for most of the race. He is set for third as others pit or crash, but cannot keep his pace up on slicks in the wet and falls to seventh.

Vettel uses long stints to edge back into contention and takes fifth on the final lap as he passes his struggling teammate but is overtaken by intermediate runners Heidfeld and Alonso.

Serious tyre warming problems leave the two Hondas at the back in practice, with Button hampered further when a fuel pressure issue stops him on his out-lap on Saturday morning.

They qualify 16th and 17th, with Barrichello ahead, then run near the back again in the race. Barrichello dices with Coulthard at first before retiring with gearbox failure, while Button persists on a one-stop strategy and finishes 15th after a late change to intermediates.

Sutil is pushed back to 18th on the grid having briefly looked set to reach Q2, while Fisichella qualifies last, having lost time on Friday when he hit water displaced from the tyre wall by Raikkonen and was sent spinning into the barrier.

The Italian's weekend gets worse in the race when he sustains front wing and tyre damage after Nakajima spins into his path at the first corner, prompting a long stop for repairs, after which he carries on to finish 17th.

Sutil has a spirited battle with the Hondas and Coulthard, then recovers from a trip off the road to take 13th, ahead of Nakajima, Button and Trulli.

Hamilton takes a dominant pole, loses the lead to Raikkonen with a lap two spin, then hunts down and passes the Ferrari - twice - in the late rain shower. He appears to have taken a stunning win, only to be given a 25 second penalty for cutting the Bus Stop chicane when battling with Raikkonen, even though he allowed the Ferrari back past. That leaves Hamilton third.

Kovalainen qualifies third but a poor stop and the first corner wheel-banging send him down to 13th on lap one. He recovers in determined style, only to earn a drive-through penalty for punting Webber into a spin. Points are still possible until he pulls off and retires on the last lap.

Lap-by-Lap

Lap 1: On pole position for the fifth time this season, and the 11th in his Formula One career, Lewis Hamilton gets away cleanly on the slippery track to lead into La Source. Kimi Raikkonen vaults to second after passing Felipe Massa on the run to Les Combes.

Kazuki Nakajima spins and is hit by Giancarlo Fisichella on the opening lap © XPB

Back at La Source, Sebastien Bourdais hits Jarno Trulli, who runs wide and causes a traffic jam to the corner's outside. Heikki Kovalainen, third on the grid, is pincered and drops to 11th. Bourdais initially runs fourth but Fernando Alonso passes him before the lap is complete.

Nelson Piquet lies sixth from Mark Webber, Robert Kubica, Timo Glock, Nick Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Jarno Trulli (who spins at the chicane), Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil and Kazuki Nakajima. Giancarlo Fisichella pits after going off twice during the lap.

Lap 2: Hamilton spins at La Source and Raikkonen passes him on the approach to Les Combes. Webber and Kubica pass Piquet. Heidfeld passes Glock.

Lap 3: Coulthard runs wide at La Source. Kovalainen passes Heidfeld and Glock. Sutil passes Button.

Lap 4: Kovalainen passes Piquet. Vettel passes Glock.

Lap 5: Raikkonen leads by 1.1 seconds. Sutil passes Coulthard.

Lap 6: Hamilton reduces the deficit to 0.6 seconds, with a 1:49.895.

Lap 7: Raikkonen responds: 1:49.710. He leads by 0.9 seconds. Heidfeld and Vettel pass Piquet.

Lap 8: Raikkonen laps in 1:49.108, Hamilton in 1:49.118. The gap remains 0.9 seconds. Sutil runs wide and drops to 19th.

Lap 9: Hamilton laps in 1:48.892: the gap is 0.8 seconds. Kovalainen passes Kubica.

Lap 10: Raikkonen (1:48.510) leads by 1.3 seconds from Hamilton, Massa and Alonso. Kovalainen tips Webber into a spin at the final chicane. Kubica passes them both. Webber drops to ninth. Barrichello passes Trulli.

Lewis Hamilton spins in the first turn, handing the lead to Kimi Raikkonen © LAT

Lap 11: Hamilton pits. Coulthard passes Trulli.

Lap 12: Raikkonen pits. Massa leads. Webber pits. Button passes Trulli.

Lap 13: Massa and Alonso pit. Raikkonen leads from Bourdais. Kovalainen - due to serve a drive-through for the Webber incident - pits for tyres and fuel. Nakajima and Sutil pass Trulli.

Lap 14: Piquet crashes at Turn 12. Heidfeld and Trulli pit. Kovalainen serves his drive-through and drops to 15th.

Lap 15: Raikkonen is 5.6 seconds clear of Hamilton. Bourdais and Kubica pit.

Lap 16: Kovalainen passes Button.

Lap 17: Raikkonen posts a 1:48.229. He leads by 5.8 seconds. Vettel and Barrichello pit.

Lap 18: Heidfeld passes Glock.

Lap 19: Raikkonen laps in 1:47.932 and extends his lead to 6.1 seconds. Barrichello pits again, this time to retire.

Lap 22: Coulthard and Button pit, as does the lapped Fisichella.

Lap 23: Hamilton cuts his arrears to 5.5 seconds.

Lap 24: Raikkonen laps in 1:47.930 and leads by 5.8 seconds. Massa is another 6.1 seconds adrift in third.

Lap 25: Raikkonen and Hamilton pit, as does Rosberg.

Kimi Raikkonen crashes on the penultimate lap as the rain increases © XPB

Lap 26: Glock pits. Sutil passes Button.

Lap 27: Alonso and Nakajima pit.

Lap 28: Massa pits, as does Sutil.

Lap 29: Kovalainen passes Webber.

Lap 30: Raikkonen leads by 1.8 seconds from Hamilton, with Massa 4.4 seconds back in third. Bourdais, Kubica and Vettel complete the top six.

Lap 31: Heidfeld pits.

Lap 32: Bourdais makes his second stop, as does Webber.

Lap 33: Kubica, Vettel and Kovalainen pit.

Lap 34: Raikkonen leads Hamilton, Massa, Alonso, Bourdais, Vettel, Heidfeld and Kubica.

Lap 35: Raikkonen is getting away: he leads by 2.3 seconds. Trulli pits.

Lap 37: Hamilton recovers half a second: the gap is 1.6 seconds.

Lap 40: Hamilton is closing: he trails by 0.9 seconds.

Lap 41: Hamilton gets very sideways at the slippery last chicane and drops away. He is 2.0 seconds adrift.

Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel celebrate their points with Gerhard Berger © XPB

Lap 42: Hamilton gets a run on Raikkonen and draws alongside at the chicane. The Finn defends. Heidfeld, Coulthard, Rosberg and Nakajima are in for wets.

Lap 43: It's raining quite heavily. Hamilton takes the lead from Raikkonen at La Source. Both are on tiptoes and run wide later in the lap which allows Raikkonen back ahead. The Finn then spins and rejoins before crashing at Turn 13. Alonso pits for wets.

Lap 44: Hamilton wins by 14.4 seconds from Massa, Heidfeld, Alonso, Vettel, Kubica, Bourdais and Glock. Kovalainen stops on the last lap.

Post-race: The Belgian GP stewards penalise Hamilton for cutting the chicane on lap 42 and award him a 25-second penalty. This means the Briton is demoted to third place, with Felipe Massa declared the race winner (pending appeal).