2010 Belgian Grand Prix in pictures

As expected the McLaren chassis was more suited to the high speed straights of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit compared to the Red Bull Racing machines. Also, as expected, rain played havoc with best laid plans and while the first three drivers on the starting grid ended up forming the podium placings, the race was anything but straightforward.

Inclement weather and safety car periods ensured the 2010 Belgian GP was a race you could not afford to stop watching. Ultimately, though, Lewis Hamilton drove an almost flawless race in his McLaren to take home the major trophy. There was one blemish, however, which almost cost him the race. At around three quarter distance more rain came. Holding out on slicks as long as he dared, the wet track provided no grip for Hamilton’s braking into Rivage and he went off into the gravel and narrowly avoided contact with the tyre wall. Luckily for him he had enough of a gap to rejoin the circuit with his lead in tact. With the race win Hamilton also takes a slender lead in the drivers’ title race.

Despite starting from pole, Mark Webber had a dreadful start, he found himself in sixth place by the first corner. Through dexterity and determination he managed to stay on the black stuff the whole race and worked his way into a position where he could finish the race in second. Robert Kubica was consistently at the top of the time sheets throughout the weekend and he spent much of the race in second position. It wasn’t until the final flurry of pitstops that he over shot his pitlane box by a metre or so. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to allow Webber to exit pitlane ahead of the Pole.

Elsewhere Fernando Alonso spun his Ferrari out of the race towards the end and Sebastian Vettel crashed his Red Bull into the side of Jenson Button’s McLaren. Vettel was able to continue, but was well out of contention due to a drive-through penalty for the contact with Button and another imprecise overtaking move on Tonio Liuzzi (Force India). This contact resulted in a rear puncture for Vettel who needed a the best part of a full lap to limp back to the pits.

The lack of points for those three drivers saw Hamilton and Webber begin to build a gap on the chasing pack. With six races left, are we starting to see the makings of a classic two-horse race for the championship?

An image gallery of pics from the race is all yours after the break. All images can be accessed as 2000px super images by clicking on each pic to load the larger version.

[Pics: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes; Red Bull Racing/Getty Images; Renault/LAT; Ferrari; Force India F1; Toro Rosso/Getty Images; Williams/LAT; Mercedes GP Petronas]