Full Race Weekend Report: F1 Belgian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix to take the lead in the drivers world championship, after an incident-packed race at Spa-Francorchamps.

The McLaren Mercedes driver retook the lead in the World Championship with an almost error-free drive, leading from the first corner to the finish.

Red Bull's Mark Webber was second, with Renault's Robert Kubica third, and Ferrari's Felipe Massa fourth.

Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso crashed out, and Sebastian Vettel failed to score a point.

Force India's Adrian Sutil was fifth, with Nico Rosberg sixth for Mercedes.

Rosberg's team-mate Michael Schumacher finished seventh after starting 21st, Kamui Kobayashi eighth for Sauber, Renault's Vitaly Petrov ninth and Force India's Tonio Liuzzi tenth after Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari, who crossed the line ahead of Liuzzi, was handed a post-race 20 second penalty.

"I'm ecstatic, it was a great weekend," said Hamilton, whose driving was praised by his team principal Martin Whitmarsh. "A race like that can be a lottery, so I'm so happy and grateful to come out on top."

With the drivers having been clearly warned they would be punished if they used the run-off at the opening corner, La Source, to gain any kind of advantage on the first lap, the likelihood of collisions appeared to be increased.

What was not predicted was that pole-sitter Webber would make an appalling start, to such an extent that he reached the corner in sixth.

As Hamilton pulled ahead, Kubica weaved around the Australian, and just managed to hold off the charging Button, but rain was already beginning to fall.

By the time the field got to the Bus Stop chicane, the track was damp enough for at least nine cars to have to use the run-off area. Rubens Barrichello, in his 300th Grand Prix, was the big loser, running hard into the back of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, a collision which put him out of the race.

With the safety car out the choice was now whether to switch to intermediates or stay on slicks, and most, including the leaders chose to stay on their smooth rubber.

It proved to be the right choice as the the rain immediately eased off and as Hamilton stretched his lead after the safety car recalled after two laps, Button and Vettel passed Kubica, while Alonso began the long climb through the field after pitting for fresh slicks.

Button had picked up some minor front-wing damage as he fought with Kubica into the first corner and struggled with the balance of his car, but while he could not live with the speed of team-mate Hamilton, the world champion had enough in hand to keep Vettel at bay.

By lap 15, Hamilton had 11 seconds in hand but at the end of the next, the rain came again and indirectly caused disaster for Button as Vettel, with a run on the Briton, lost control under braking on the damp track and speared into the side of the McLaren.

Incredibly, Vettel was able to recover just in time to steer his Red Bull across the track and into the pit lane, from where he rejoined the race after a quick front wing change.

Click to play

Belgian Grand Prix - Top three drivers

Button, on the other hand, was unable to continue and having been in no way at fault, was entitled to be furious.

"All I felt was a really big bang in the sidepod and I lost drive immediately, I don't know what he was playing at really. From the point of view of the championship, it's a massive blow," he said.

The stewards immediately announced the incident would be investigated, and Vettel was handed a drive through penalty for causing an avoidable collision.

The incident left Hamilton clear of Kubica, Webber, Felipe Massa, Adrian Sutil, and remarkably, Schumacher, who had started 21st.

At the half-way point, Sutil was the first of the leading pack to change his slick tyres followed by Webber, who was trying to get the jump on Kubica. Vettel, meanwhile, was down in 14th after serving his penalty, but lapping more quickly than any other driver.

Hamilton stopped two laps later, and while the track stayed dry, it was looking good for the Briton. Behind him, poetic justice awaited Vettel while attempting to pass Tonio Liuzzi for 11th, as the German sliced open a tyre on the Italian's front wing. Once again, he was able to limp back to the pitlane, but he rejoined in 20th.

At the three-quarter point Hamilton was maintaining a comfortable 10-second gap to Kubica, but rain was clearly on its way. As it began falling, Hamilton and Webber stayed out - and Hamilton could not stay on the damp track at Rivage.

Somehow he kept his car out of the barriers, and was back on track before Webber could capitalise. Immediately Hamilton came in to switch to intermediates. Webber did likewise, as did Kubica - but the Pole overshot his pitlane box, a mistake that enabled Webber to come out in second.

There was more drama to come, however. On lap 39, Alonso spun out at the exit to Les Combes, leaving the Ferrari in the middle of the track, necessitating another safety car period.

Feeling the grip levels carefully, Hamilton nailed the restart to keep Webber at bay. The inevitable concertina effect behind him ensured plenty of incident in the closing laps, but Hamilton maintained his concentration in superb style to score a potentially crucial victory.

Watch the F1 Belgium Grand Prix 2010 live here on Motorsport Zone!

Its live, its F1 and its FREE (and no ads!)

http://tiny.cc/k13m8 <<>

1	Australia	M Webber	Red Bull
2	Great Britain	L Hamilton	McLaren
3	Poland	R Kubica	Renault
4	Germany	S Vettel	Red Bull
5	Great Britain	J Button	McLaren
6	Brazil	F Massa	Ferrari
7	Brazil	R Barrichello	Williams
8	Germany	A Sutil	Force India
9	Germany	N Hulkenberg	Williams
10	Spain	F Alonso	Ferrari
11	Germany	M Schumacher	Mercedes
12	Germany	N Rosberg	Mercedes
13	Spain	J Alguersuari	Toro Rosso
14	Italy	V Liuzzi	Force India
15	Switzerland	S Buemi	Toro Rosso
16	Finland	H Kovalainen	Lotus
17	Germany	T Glock	Virgin
18	Italy	J Trulli	Lotus
19	Japan	K Kobayashi	BMW Sauber
20	Brazil	B Senna	Hispania
21	Japan	S Yamamoto	Hispania
22	Spain	P de la Rosa	BMW Sauber
23	Brazil	L di Grassi	Virgin
24	Russia	V Petrov	Renault

Second Qualifying Session:

OUT: Schumacher, Rosberg, Algersuari, Liuzzi, Buemi, Kovalienen, Glock

First Qualifying session:

OUT: Trulli, Kobayashi, Senna, Yamamoto, De La Rosa, Di Grassi, Petrov

Red flagged after rookie mistake from Vitaly Pertov sends his Renault spinning off the track, the stewards deemed the car in a dangerous position and the Renaults engine has cut out so the red flag was produced until the car can be removed

Third Practice:

Red Bull's Mark Webber set the fastest time in final practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The championship leader lapped in one minute, 46.106 seconds shortly before heavy rain forced the drivers to switch back to wet tyres.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was second fastest, with Webber's Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel third.

Vettel was followed by McLaren's Jenson Button, Renault's Robert Kubica and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Only half a second covered the first six drivers, with Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa in seventh and Force India's Adrian Sutil again showing encouraging form to be eighth fastest.

After the wet weather of Friday, the track had dried sufficiently to give all the teams valuable running time on slick tyres from the start. With rain forecast, all took advantage, with Hamilton setting a succession of fastest laps on his prime rubber.

It was again notable that the Red Bulls, though faster in the twistier middle sector of the track, had less of an advantage in the flowing first and third sectors.

With 20 minutes remaining most the drivers switched to their softer option slick tyres, but the rain that had been threatening began to fall.

As it did so, Vettel stopped in the pit-lane and had to be pushed back to the garage, but the airbox problem that was diagnosed was almost immediately fixed.

The German is the only one of the leading contenders to be using an old - previously used - engine at a track where power is vital.

On Friday, meanwhile, it was confirmed that Red Bull had passed new, tougher front wing flexibility tests introduced in an effort to allay concerns that their pace advantage may be at least partly down to illegally flexing bodywork, particularly the front wing and forward part of the under-floor.

Mark Webber's RB6, and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren MP4-25, were subject to the new tests during the standard inspection procedure that followed Friday's practice sessions.

FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer

Previously, the endplates on the front wing were allowed to flex by a maximum of 10mm when a load of 50 kilogrammes was placed upon them. The new test saw that weight doubled to 100 kgs, with deflection allowed of up to 20mm.

According to FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer, both cars - which were also subject to an additional front floor deflection test - were found to be in conformity with 2010 technical regulations.

Additional new floor tests and regulations will be introduced at the Italian GP in two weeks time.

Red Bull have always been adamant their cars comply with the regulations. Neither Ferrari was chosen for testing on Friday, but Scuderia technical director Aldo Costa said he hoped the FIA's stronger stance would end the controversy.

First Practice:

Fernando Alonso set the fastest time in a rain-affected first practice session for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.
The Ferrari man, fifth in the drivers' standings but only 20 points behind leader Mark Webber, posted a lap of two minutes 0.797 seconds in poor weather.
Lewis Hamilton was 0.770 seconds back in his McLaren and the Renault of Robert Kubica was third fastest.
Webber came through in seventh, almost half a second adrift of Red Bull team-mate Sebastien Vettel.
With teams not obliged to reveal the exact fuel loads the cars are carrying, it is difficult to read too much into the practice times - even when conditions are good.


This Article will be reguarlly updated with the latest news from this weekends Spa Belgium Grand Prix!

Please feel free to comment your views on how the teams are going below, it looks like Red bull may be struggling a bit here, so who will win this weekends race?

Claim Token (please ignore) V43UB7VM9EDD