Hamilton wins Belgian GP to take championship lead

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS // Lewis Hamilton overcame a late scare to win the Belgian Grand Prix and take the overall lead of the Formula One championship today. Hamilton ran off the track with nine laps to race but recovered to keep the lead and edge out the second-placed Mark Webber of Red Bull. "I locked my wheel and went wide," Hamilton said. "I just clipped (the wall). But I was able to get away with it."

Webber dropped to second in the overall standings after failing to defend his pole position with a clutch problem giving him a poor start off the line. Jenson Button's championship hopes took a hit after the defending F1 champion was knocked out of the race when Sebastian Vettel crashed into him during a failed overtaking manoeuvre. Hamilton's 14th career win means the Briton has 182 points - three more than Webber - as the top two opened up a gap over the other title favourites.

"It was a pretty mixed up race (so) I'm happy with second in the end," Webber said. Vettel stayed third with 151 points, Button is fourth with 147 and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari abandoned the race after spinning out to remain fifth on 141. Six races remain with the Italian GP next on September 12. Robert Kubica of Renault was third in the race ahead of Felipe Massa of Ferrari, while Force India's Adrian Sutil completed the top five.

Hamilton's victory means nine of 13 races have been won by drivers not on pole. Red Bull has taken pole for 12 of the 13 races. "When you have a weekend and a race like that, when it can be a lottery, and you can come out on top - I'm really, really happy," said Hamilton, who finally picked up a victory at Spa after having it taken away in 2008 for cutting a chicane. Hamilton jumped into the lead as Webber started slowly to sit fifth behind Kubica, Button, Vettel and Massa.

Button overtook Kubica to put McLaren in the driver's seat while Alonso dropped into 18th after surviving Rubens Barrichello's crash into him on the second lap, with the safety car deployed and rain falling. Barrichello didn't return to complete his record 300th GP. Vettel pushed ahead of Kubica into third behind the McLarens and Webber got past Massa for fourth when the safety car came in and the sun came out.

But the circuit was still slick and Vettel skidded into the side of Button. "I thought I was doing a good job of keeping my position and fairly. I don't know what Sebastian was doing," said Button of his incident. "It's a massive blow, I'm really disappointed. I felt that under the difficult conditions I found grip better than others." After knocking Button out of the race, Vettel's drive-through penalty knocked him into 13th and a punctured tyre lap eventually saw him drop out of the points to finish 15th.

Rain fell over the close of the race with Hamilton losing the line and going into the gravel at Rivage. But the 2008 F1 champion, who picked up his first win here, avoided the wall and his 12-second lead allowed him to stay in front. Webber jumped ahead of Kubica following a poor pit stop by the Polish driver and Hamilton hung on in the rain after the safety car was deployed with five laps to go after Alonso lost control after coming out Les Combes. Mercedes pair Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finished sixth and seventh. Schumacher, with six career wins at the Ardennes circuit, had started 21st.

* Agencies