The Hindu : Sport : Massa declared winner of Belgian GP

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Massa declared winner of Belgian GP

Lewis Hamilton demoted to third place after being stripped of his victory

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (Belgium): Britain’s Lewis Hamilton was stripped of his initial Belgian Grand Prix victory on Sunday after a stewards’ enquiry handed the race to Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

Hamilton was given a 25-second penalty after stewards judged the McLaren driver had cut a chicane and gained an advantage in the closing stages of the race.

The penalty meant Brazilian Massa, initially second, was awarded first place, Germany’s Nick Heidfeld moved up to second for BMW Sauber and Hamilton dropped to third, slashing his lead over Massa in the drivers’ championship to just two points.

Huge shower

It long looked like Raikkonen would win his fourth straight Belgian GP, but the low-flung leaden clouds over the wooded circuit suddenly released a huge shower in the last three of the 44 laps. With most cars having switched to dry tyres at the final pit stop, it was enough to decide the race.

“I was praying: rain, rain, rain,” Hamilton said. “I wanted the rain to come,” realising it was his best shot at victory.

The two riders almost crashed into each other, but after some spectacular manoeuvres, Hamilton appeared from the source hairpin in front. The British driver soon lost the lead again, however, when he had to veer off the track to avoid a slower car in front of him.

But Raikkonen, in turn, spun on the slippery surface to put Hamilton back in front. Raikkonen was then forced to take risks, resulting in a crash into the side railings.

Late surge

Heidfeld had switched to wet-weather tyres, letting him make up much ground with a late surge.

Hamilton enjoyed the advantage of his pole position for just one lap. While he got to the opening source hairpin first, Raikkonen was already making a move behind him.

Having started in fourth, he went way wide in the hairpin but immediately challenged teammate Massa on the first long straight and got into the slipstream of the championship leader with a daring move.

One lap later, he used the same long straight to let his Ferrari engine do the talking, and when Hamilton’s McLaren could not respond, the Finn was in front on his favourite circuit.

Hamilton’s teammate Heikki Kovailanen, meanwhile, slipped from third to 11th in the start.

His comeback was effectively stopped when he drove into Mark Webber on lap 10 and was penalised with a drive through the pit lane, putting him back in 15th place.

Hamilton hung in tight but ended up in some traffic after his first pit stop, which dropped him 5.6 seconds back of the surging Raikkonen.

At halfway, Raikkonen led by 5.5 seconds over Hamilton and 11.2 over Massa. Alonso, in fourth place, was already 32 seconds back.

The results:

1. Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari, 1 hour, 22 minutes, 59.394 seconds; 2. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW-Sauber, 09.383; 3. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren, 10.539; 4. Fernando Alonso (Esp) Renault, 14.478; 5. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso, 14.576; 6. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW-Sauber, 15.037; 7. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso, 16.735.

8. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull, 42.776, 9. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota, 67.045; 10. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren, 1 lap; 11. David Coulthard (GBR) Red Bull, 1 lap; 12. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams, 1 lap; 13. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India, 1 lap; 14. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams, 1 lap; 15. Jenson Button (GBR) Honda, 1 lap; 16. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota, 1 lap, 17. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India, 1 lap; 18. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin), Ferrari 2 laps.

Constructors’ standings: 1. Ferrari 131 points; 2. McLaren 119; 3. BMW-Sauber 107; 4. Toyota 41; 5. Renault 36; 6. Red Bull 25; 7. Williams 17; 8. Toro Rosso 17; 9. Honda 14. — Agencies

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