F1GP: Hamilton victorious at Belgian Grand Prix as weather conditions proved a crucial factor for teams

Lewis Hamilton was ecstatic over his inaugural win at the historic Spa-Franchorchamps circuit in Belgium. Hamilton now leads the drivers championship after this round. “After the DNF in Hungary, this last push in the championship couldn’t have started better for me; this victory was the perfect way to bounce back. Spa is always one of the most challenging races on the calendar, and I’m ecstatic that I’m now able to tick it off and say that I’ve won here.

“At the start, I was able to pace myself and maintain the gap – every time the cars behind increased their pace, I was able to answer. Then, when the conditions changed, I had a wide moment at Turn Eight – and I was on the edge of my seat! Fortunately, I got out of it, took a step back, regained my focus, and took control again. I was so relieved to cross the line at the end of the race – it was an overwhelming feeling!

Jenson Button, then leading the championship on points, was not so lucky as he came off worse in an unexpected side on impact from an out of control Vettel ended his chance of a McLaren one-two on the podium.

Jenson Button “As a result, it was pretty tricky to keep the others behind, but I was having a good fight in the wet conditions, and I seemed to be able to find grip better than the other people around me. I was doing a decent job of keeping my position, and doing it fairly.

“Then, as everyone knows, I had an incident with Sebastian [Vettel]. I certainly didn’t brake any earlier than usual. All I know is I suddenly felt a big bang in the sidepod, which ripped the radiator out, and then I lost drive.

“I’ve watched it on TV now, and I’d say it was a very strange incident. Clearly, he didn’t do it on purpose, and I gather he’s now apologised, but I have to say I’ve got no idea what he was doing. It’s a massive blow to my world championship hopes.

“All I can do now is look forward to Monza. I love that track, and I’ll be doing my best to score a lot of points there.”

Mark Webber kept his pace consistent throughout but unfortunately got bogged down at the start.

Mark Webber “The start was a mess, it wasn’t ideal to lose that many positions, but fortunately it’s not Monaco or Barcelona where the positions often don’t change during the race. I was able to overtake a few guys on the first few laps and get some of the positions back – I knew the race would be quite long after that and to get second place was a good result. It was very challenging in the last part of the Grand Prix and it was difficult to keep the car on track.

I can’t believe the top three qualifiers finished on the podium with all the changing conditions! It was a good day for me. It was unfortunate for the team that we didn’t get some more points, but we’re still leading the Constructors’ Championship and hopefully we will do in Monza.”

Redbull Team mate Sebastien Vettel spent four visits to the pit lane, various altercations with other drivers proved too much for both his concentration and the car.

Sebastien Vettel “What happened, happened and we can’t change it now. Obviously I’m not proud of it, I lost the car going over the bump as I was braking and unfortunately hit Jenson, so he couldn’t continue. I’m sorry for him. We’ll have to see what we can do at the next races.”

Robert Kubica sandwiched himself in between the two McLarens at the start, using his new F-Duct, he breezed up Eau Rouge one handed whilst most truggled with two.

Robert Kubica: “This is a great result for the team after a weekend when we were competitive in every session, and we were racing with McLaren and Red Bull. Nobody was expecting us to be at this level in Spa, so I think we can be pleased with the work we have done.

The conditions were very difficult at the start, and the track was damp before and after the Safety Car came out. I was running in fourth place when Button and Vettel collided, and I think I could have gone quicker than Jenson during that part of the race. When the track was clear, I was able to push to the limit and the car felt really good. Webber stopped before me to change onto the prime tyre, but the mechanics did a great job to get me out in front of him and, although it was very close up the hill after Eau Rouge, I held onto the position and then even pulled away a little bit. When the rain came again, the circuit was very slippery, but I was catching Lewis on the lap when we stopped. As I came into the pit lane,

I told myself to take it easy because it was so slippery, but there were a number of controls I had to change on the steering wheel. I was distracted doing this and that was my mistake: when I looked up, it was past the braking point, I locked up the front wheels and collided with some of the mechanics – fortunately without hurting anybody. That cost me one position, but it was a race in which mistakes were very easy to make, so we can be happy that I maintained my position from the start and that our pace was very competitive.