Britain's Lewis Hamilton reinforced his world championship lead by claiming his fifth win of the season at a dramatic, rain-swept Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Englishman is now eight points ahead of Brazilian Felipe Massa of Ferrari in the championship after luckless defending champion Kimi Raikkonen of Finland crashed out in the final laps after dominating.

The race was settled by the infamous and capricious weather conditions at this great circuit as Massa came home second and German Nick Heidfeld stole through to take third for BMW Sauber.

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 Hamilton's fifth win this year and his ninth in Formula One in two seasons.

"It was an experience and a half," said Hamilton.

"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 one-tenth 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 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 straightforward from there. 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.

After a wet morning, the track was wet in the start and hairpin areas, but dry elsewhere at the start with dry spells and then rain forecast — giving the field a very difficult decision to make on tyres and final set up.

When the lights went out, most were on soft, dry tyres and it was Hamilton who took the lead through La Source from pole position.

Behind him, his team-mate Kovalainen had a terrible getaway and fell from third to 13th on the opening lap and so too did Massa who ran wide but rejoined on the rush towards Eau Rouge.

Raikkonen made a brilliant start and was swiftly through to challenge Massa and take second place while Alonso took fourth.

At the end of the first, lap Hamilton lost control in the wet and spun at La Source hairpin. This cost him time and Raikkonen rushed past him beyond Eau Rouge and up the hill to take the lead.

This left the Finn in front ahead of Hamilton with Massa third and the trio were to dominate the rest of the race in changing conditions.

Hamilton was unable to stay in close contact and Raikkonen pulled out a clear lead before the opening pit stops after 11 laps when he came in first.

Hamilton rejoined in seventh place and Raikkonen pitted a lap later, rejoining in third as Massa took the lead for a lap before he too pitted.

As the midfield positions switched and swapped in the battle in the wet-dry conditions, Raikkonen stayed out on top by more than five seconds until the second stops when they switched to the harder tyres.

This gave the momentum back to Hamilton who cut into the Finn's lead and closed the gap to 1.3 seconds in the final sector of the race.

With six laps remaining, 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 the Finn and passed him but as the rain fell heavily with three laps remaining the race was turned into a lottery as they both spun and soon after Raikkonen crashed off into a wall and out of the race.

Hamilton continued: "Fantastic weekend and just really I am stoked to have battled through the tough conditions. It was one of the most exciting races of my career. I love having battles with Kimi, it's great fun.

"The team did an incredible job as always, the car was great. I have to say a big thanks to them, the fans here too. We are going to keep pushing, keep feet on ground and keep pushing for the next races."

AFP

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