Lewis Hamilton wins in Spa in front of Mark Webber and Robert Kubica © mspb
The race started in the dry, with pole man Webber slow to get away, so that Hamilton took a lead he would never lose throughout the 44 laps, while Felipe had briefly moved up to fourth as the Safety Car came out after various incidents, including the one involving Fernando. When the race resumed on lap 4, the order at the front was Hamilton, Button, Kubica, Vettel, Webber, Massa. By this stage, several cars had fitted intermediate tyres, when a brief shower arrived, although in fact, the track dried so quickly, that those drivers, including Fernando, had to re-pit to return to slicks. In the dry, Fernando started to carve his way through the slower cars. While Hamilton built up a comfortable lead, behind him, everyone from Button to Felipe were all very close; too close in the case of Vettel, who crashed into Button, forcing the McLaren man to retire on lap 15. This meant that by lap 17, Felipe was fourth behind the leading trio and Fernando had moved up to ninth. The Brazilian pitted for fresh tyres on lap 23, at which point, Webber moved into second, as Kubica had a poor pit stop, but not poor enough for Felipe to get by him.
Precious points from Massa, a blank day for Alonso ©ferrari
The rain returned on lap 33 and gradually built in intensity, to the point that extreme rain tyres would be the ideal choice, but by then Fernando had his spin, which meant the Safety Car came out again, as his car was blocking the track, the race resuming for a short sprint for four laps. Felipe’s fourth place was not under threat, as for much of the race, the Brazilian had a lonely race, too far behind to mount a threat for third place, but comfortably ahead of fifth placed Sutil.
