Lewis Hamilton won the start and then mainly stayed out of rain and collision trouble to win a turbulent Belgian Formula One Grand Prix for McLaren on Sunday, dpa reported.
The 2008 drivers' champion escaped a sliding scare on a wet track late in the race as he regained the championship lead with his third season victory from pole-sitter Mark Webber of Red Bull and Renault's Robert Kubica.
There was plenty of drama including rain in the opening lap, a first-lap exit of 300th-race anniversary man Rubens Barrichello, another incident involving Sebastian Vettel when he smashed into the McLaren of Jenson Button, wet conditions in the final 10 laps and a crash of Fernando Alonso which sent out the safety car again.
Hamilton tops the standings with 182 points after 13 of 19 season races while Webber dropped to second with 179 in what appears to be turning into a two-man title fight.
Vettel trails on 151 points, Button has 147 and Alonso 141.
Webber had his worst start of the season from pole when Hamilton led five other drivers past the Australian into the first tight right turn.
Rain set in before the end of the opening lap, with all top drivers and many others sliding off the track in the Bus Stop chicane, and Barrichello's Williams crashing into Alonso's Ferrari.
In-between, the safety car came out for one lap to allow Barrichello's wreck to be lifted away, a sad end for the F1 record GP driver from Brazil.
Hamilton handily won the restart to lead from Button, and Vettel overtook Kubica for third place before the drivers slowly consolidated their positions.
But, just as the next drops were falling in the 16th lap, Vettel tried to overtake Button coming into the Bus Stop, lost control on what appeared a damp track and crashed into the Briton. Button was forced to retire while Vettel limped into the pits to get a new front wing.
However, the German then received a drive-through penalty for the collision, his second penalty of that kind in a row after being too far away from the safety car three weeks ago in Hungary.
"I don't know what Sebastian was doing. It's a massive blow, I'm really disappointed," said Button. "It was a racing incident, he didn't do it on purpose but what else can you do?"
Ten laps on, Vettel was the centre of attention again but this time around innocent when his right rear tyre was sliced up by Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi. The German was forced into the pits again and finished 15th.
There were no changes at the top when the drivers pitted for new tyres just after the halfway mark of the 44-lap race.
Heavy rain came in the 34th and Hamilton almost paid the price for staying out another lap when he slipped off and could only barely avoid hitting a wall.
The Briton then pitted along with Kubica, Webber and Ferrari's Felipe Massa, with Webber's crew faster to take second place from Kubica.
The safety car, deployed in the 39th lap to allow Alonso's car to be towed away, brought the leaders close together again but Hamilton won the restart and cruised to victory in 1 hour 29 minutes 4.268 seconds. Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher finished seventh from 21st on the grid and Renault's Vitaly Petrov salvaged points by shooting from 24th and last to ninth.
The next race is the Italian Grand Prix on September 12 in Monza.
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