Thread: Another perfect run by Hamilton

Touch the race was won by lewis Hamilton for Mclaren Mercedes, it was Nelson Piquet's day, having started from the penultimate row of the grid, but bringing his Renault home second thanks to a lucky and clever strategic break, only making a single pit stop. Hamilton now leads the Drivers' Championship on 58 points, four points more than second-placed Massa, with Kimi third, a further three points down.

The grid formed up in the warmest conditions of the weekend and as the lights went out, Hamilton maintained his pole advantage for McLaren, while Felipe, who was second in qualifying, came under immediate pressure from the other McLaren of Kovalainen for several corners. Kubica in the BMW moved up from seventh to fourth ahead of Trulli in the Toyota and Alonso in the Renault, which meant that Raikkonen dropped one spot to seventh. Behind him was the Toro Rosso of Vettel, with Webber's Red Bull and Glock's Toyota completing the top ten. Kimi passed Alonso on lap four to go sixth.



By lap 4, Hamilton's lead over Felipe was 3.7 seconds and the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver had a 2.7 advantage over Kova¬lainen. Kimi was 11 seconds off the leader. As is often the case, one of the best battles was lower down the order, as Button (Honda) Coulthard (Red Bull) and Rosberg (Williams) had a great scrap for thirteenth spot.

As the final 27 laps unfolded, Felipe was in fourth and Kimi in eleventh place. Still having only stopped once, Hamilton was leading, 10.8 seconds ahead of fourth-placed Felipe. With ten laps remaining, race leader Piquet had still only made one pit stop. By this stage, it was clear Piquet was not making another stop, but on lap 60, he was powerless to hold off Hamilton, who moved into the lead. Felipe was now 3.5 seconds behind his fellow countryman with seven laps to the flag, but he had Heidfeld just behind. The remaining points positions went to Kovalainen fifth, Kimi sixth, Kubica seventh and Vettel eighth.