The Spa victory also brings the Brit back into the lead of this year’s drivers' championship. Hamilton didn’t have an easy race, as he had to tackle a gravel exit that came after a slip on a wet segment of the track. The problem appeared at the Bus Stop chicane on the first lap of the race.
He took the lead right from the start of the event, when Webber, who started from pole position, bogged down and saw himself going back all the way to sixth place. Then, he managed to gain over half a second each lap as the water dried off and entered the second rain “session”, which started during lap 35, with a 11 seconds advantage. The driver was still using slicks and decided to push hard, ending up on the gravel at Rivage. However, he managed to re-enter the track, switching for intermediate tires at the end of the lap.
The same tire decision was taken by Robert Kubica, who was in second place and Webber, who followed the Renault driver. However, Webber managed to take second place, as Kubica had an issue during the pit stop that took precious time. Kubica eventually finished third. (+3.493s).
During lap 38, Alonso crashed, with the situation leading to the safety car’s appearance. The driver, which had a less-than-satisfying start, had managed to climb up to seventh place. Subsequently, Hamilton managed to gain a hefty advantage over Webber, with the latter finishing the race in second place. (+1.571)
Rubbens Barichello, who celebrated his 300th grand prix at Spa, had crashed into Alonso at the Bus Stop on the opening lap, exiting the race and sending the spaniard to the back of the pack.
Other unlucky drivers were Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel, with the first damaging his front wing on the first lap. This caused a jam of four cars behind him.
Vettel, which was holding third position, lost control of his car and and collided with Button at the Bus Stop, sending the latter out. The incident cost him time for the repairs, as well as a drive-through penalty for delaying the other four drivers. Latter on in the race, he suffered a puncture due to an accident with Liuzzi.
Felipe Massa took advantage of all the incidents and climbed up to fourth place (+8.264), with Adrian Sutil(+9.094) managing to pass Schumacher and make his way to fifth place.
Sixth place was taken by Nico Rosberg (+12.359), with the top ten being completed by Schumacher (+15.548), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber; +16.678), Vitaly Petrov (Renault; +23.851) and Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso; +29.457).
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