Lewis Hamilton was sensationally stripped of his Belgian Grand Prix victory on Sunday as the race for the 2008 world championship was thrown wide open.
The British McLaren driver was penalised 25 seconds by the race stewards, which pushed him down to third place, for having cut a chicane in his dramatic, late tussle with world champion Kimi Raikkonen on the rain-soaked Spa track. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was promoted to race winner with Nick Heidfeld, of BMW Sauber, promoted to second place. Massa had originally finished 14sec behind Hamilton, who thought he had claimed a fifth win of the season, with Heidfeld 23sec off the pace. The decision left 23-year-old Hamilton with just a twopoint lead over Massa in the championship with only five races left.
Raikkonen had taken the lead at the start of the second lap when Hamilton spun at the La Source hairpin, but after controlling the race he lost his lead and his title challenge when he crashed out in heavy rain in the closing laps. “It was an experience and a half,” said Hamilton before the penalty was announced. “I could see Kimi ahead and after the second stop he was so far ahead, I didn’t know he had made a gap. I was pushing, pushing, pushing, I was catching him onetenth a lap
. I was praying for rain, I wanted the rain to come, I knew how to deal with it and the heavens opened. I saw Kimi about to back off, brake a lot earlier than he did, into Turn 8 and I knew the fight was on. “When I went into Turn 12 I was going reasonably wide, it looked like Nico Rosberg had done a spin and came back onto the track and I nearly crashed into him. I went over the grass, Kimi spun at the exit and I got it. It was incredibly tough.”
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain came home fourth for Renault ahead of German Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso and sixth-placed Pole Robert Kubica in the second BMW. With six laps remaining of the race, the first rain drops began to fall and produced the conditions that created the amazing final few laps when Hamilton regained the lead.
On lap 42, he caught Raikkonen and passed him. As the rain became heavier with three laps remaining the race was turned into a lottery as both drivers spun and soon after Raikkonen crashed off into a wall and out of the race.
In another late development, Timo Glock of Toyota was demoted a place to ninth, with Mark Webber of Red Bull promoted to eighth, following a 25sec penalty for not taking notice of yellow flags.
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