| 13.30 | It’s a case of sunshine and showers at Spa Francorchamps. Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the 44-lap Belgian Grand Prix. The race gets underway in just over 30 minutes. |
| 13.32 | Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for the race with a best lap of 1:47.338s, more than three-tenths of a second clear of Felipe Massa. “Today the team made no mistakes and I made no mistakes. I had four great laps but especially at the end.” Hamilton has a six point lead at the head of the championship. |
| 13.34 | While the McLaren driver was very happy with his pole, Ferrari rival Massa was not to unhappy to be on the front row alongside Hamilton. “I did a great lap, I did almost a perfect lap but it was not enough. Sometimes you do a great lap and you are still missing something.” |
| 13.36 | Given the gap between the two, some suggest that Hamilton may have opted for a lighter fuel load than Massa, but the Brazilian simply admitted after qualifying that McLaren had the edge over Ferrari. |
| 13.38 | Heikki Kovalainen starts third in the second McLaren sharing the second row of the grid with Kimi Raikkonen who is chasing his fourth straight win at Spa. Neither had the pace of their team-mates with the latter claiming again that ‘a small mistake’ explains the gap to his team-mate. More likely is that Massa is just faster at the moment with the current F2008 package. Raikkonen is now 13 points behind Hamilton in the championship. |
| 13.40 | Nick Heidfeld starts fifth in the leading BMW Sauber, a much needed boost at a time many are questioning his ability to remain with the team in 2009. Team-mate Robert Kubica is the one struggling this weekend and starts eighth. |
| 13.42 | Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet line up sixth and 12th for Renault. The former will be looking to score points and help the team consolidate fifth position over Red Bull in the constructors’ standings. |
| 13.44 | Mark Webber is running well for the Red Bull team however and starts seventh. The team has struggled in recent races and today is looking to score its first points in five races. David Coulthard starts 14th in the second RB4 but has scored points just once in his final season in the sport. |
| 13.46 | Toro Rosso showed well yesterday with Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel qualifying ninth and tenth. The latter has certainly opted for a very long first stint and will start the race with a heavy fuel load on board. |
| 13.48 | Toyota are a solid fourth in the standings at the moment with ten point advantage over Renault, but the team has not been able to get the best out of the tyres in the cool conditions and start with Jarno Trulli 11th and Timo Glock 13th. |
| 13.50 | Towards the back of the field, it has been a disastrous weekend for Williams Toyota with Nico Rosberg qualifying 15th and Kazuki Nakajima just 19th. Nine of the teams 17 points to date came at the Australian Grand Prix at the start of the season and it is unlikely (in normal conditions) that they will add to their tally this afternoon. |
| 13.52 | Honda too are continuing to struggle, but this is less of a surprise than Williams. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button start 16th and 17th ahead of the Adrian Sutil in the leading Force India, Nakajima and finally Giancarlo Fisichella in the second VJM01. |
| 13.54 | Safety car and rain aside, this race is traditional two-stopper with the first stops beginning as soon as lap 15. Kimi Raikkonen won the race last year from Massa, Alonso and Hamilton. |
| 13.56 | Today we have had some rain showers and the drivers and teams are now making last minute decisions in terms of tyre choice. There is however a constant threat of additional rain as the dark clouds move across the circuit. |
| 13.58 | The drivers are all in the cars as the countdown to the start of the Belgian Grand Prix continues. The final turns of the lap from, Stavelot to La Source, seem damp while the rest of the circuit is dry. |
| 14.00 | The parade lap is now underway as Hamilton leads the field away from the dummy grid. The front runners are on soft dry tyres. |
| 14.00 | Piquet seems to be on the intermediate tyre from P12 on the grid. |
| 14.01 | There is some light spray on the run to Eau Rouge. |
| 14.02 | The track is mostly dry. |
| 14.03 | Hamilton lines his McLaren Mercedes up on the pole position with Massa, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber, Kubica, Bourdais, Vettel and the rest taking up position. |
| Lap 1 | The Belgian Grand Prix is underway. |
| Lap 1 | Raikkonen wide into turn one. Slow start from Kovalainen. |
| Lap 1 | Raikkonen gets ahead of Massa on the run to Les Combes. |
| Lap 1 | Kovalainen is all the way down in 13th from P4 on the grid. Hamilton leads Raikkonen, Massa and Bourdais! |
| Lap 1 | Trulli spins at the final turn and a Williams has to take avoiding action. |
| Lap 2 | Hamilton loses ground and Raikkonen is getting a tow... |
| Lap 2 | Raikkonen passes Hamilton into Les Combes. He now leads. |
| Lap 2 | Fisichella pits. It was a spin from Hamilton that spun early in the lap at turn one that gave Raikkonen the run. |
| Lap 3 | Alonso has moves fourth ahead of Bourdais, Webber, Kubica, Piquet and Heidfeld. |
| Lap 3 | Raikkonen leads Hamilton by a second with Massa a further second back in third. |
| Lap 4 | Kovalainen passes Heidfeld at the end of the lap and is now back up to ninth. |
| Lap 4 | At the start, Trulli made an amazing start but was hit by Bourdais into turn one. Bourdais runs fifth now. |
| Lap 5 | Kovalainen passes Piquet. |
| Lap 5 | Out front, Raikkonen pulls half a second on Hamilton with Massa dropping back in third. |
| Lap 5 | Piquet is stuggling on the intermediate tyre. The circuit is only wet in parts and he is overheating his tyres. |
| Lap 6 | Hamilton closes back in on Raikkonen on that lap with Massa now over three seconds behind. Alonso still runs fourth. |
| Lap 6 | Heidfeld passes Piquet into Les Combes. |
| Lap 7 | Hamilton is faster again on that lap and the gap in now half a second to Raikkonen again. |
| Lap 7 | Vettel made a poor start to the race but is now closing in on Piquet who is sliding back. |
| Lap 8 | After a stop on lap one, Fisichella has gone a lap down. |
| Lap 8 | Kovalainen all over Kubica for P7. |
| Lap 8 | Piquet runs wide and Vettel is able to pass. |
| Lap 9 | Kovalainen gets the tow and passes Kubica into Les combes. |
| Lap 9 | Sutil runs off track at Fagnes and drops down from P16. |
| Lap 10 | A close battle at the front with less than a second between Raikkonen and Hamilton. Massa is five seconds back in third. |
| Lap 10 | The winners so far are Raikkonen and Bourdais while Kovalainen, Heidfeld have lost out. |
| Lap 11 | Kovalainen runs into Webber at the final turn. He didved down the inside and hit the side of the Red Bull. |
| Lap 11 | Webber was sixth but loses ground. |
| Lap 11 | Kovalainen now runs in seventh behind Kubica. |
| Lap 12 | Hamilton pits from second. |
| Lap 11 | So Hamilton was light in qualifying. He exits behind Kovalainen. |
| Lap 12 | Kovalainen has been handed a drive through penalty for hitting Webber. |
| Lap 12 | So Raikkonen leads Massa, Alonso, Bourdais. |
| Lap 13 | Raikkonen pits from the lead. Another early stop. |
| Lap 13 | Webber pits the Red Bull. |
| Lap 13 | Raikkonen exited ahead of Kubica. Critical as Kubica has Kovalainen and Hamilton behind him. |
| Lap 14 | Massa and Alonso both pit. |
| Lap 14 | Kovalainen is in the pits. |
| Lap 14 | Kovalainen will have to go back out and then pit again for a drive through. |
| Lap 15 | Now Heidfeld pits his BMW Sauber. |
| Lap 15 | Piquet spun at Fagnes and hit the barriers as Kovalainen takes his penalty. Yellow flags are out. |
| Lap 15 | Trulli has pitted as well as Raikkonen leads Bourdais. |
| Lap 16 | Now Bourdais and Kubica pit. |
| Lap 16 | So Raikkonen leads Hamilton now by over five seconds with Massa third. |
| Lap 16 | Bourdais retains the position ahead of Kubica. |
| Lap 17 | Vettel runs in fourth and may be on a one stop. He is 13s behind the race leader. |
| Lap 17 | After his penalty, Kovalainen is down in 14th and now closing in on Coulthard. Sutil pits. |
| Lap 17 | Coulthard passes Barrichello. |
| Lap 18 | Vettel pits from fourth position. |
| Lap 18 | Vettel exits seventh. |
| Lap 18 | A nice pass from Heidfeld on Glock into Les Combes. |
| Lap 19 | Massa is picking up the pace now and closing in on Hamilton. |
| Lap 20 | Bourdais runs fifth and has Kubica and Vettel right behind. |
| Lap 20 | Barrichello pits from 16th position. |
| Lap 21 | Alonso remains in fourth but he is some 20s behind Massa. |
| Lap 21 | Barrichello's pit stop was a retirement. He is out of the car. |
| Lap 22 | Kovalainen remains behind Coulthard and is not making progress now. |
| Lap 22 | The gap at the front remains static at six seconds. |
| Lap 23 | There;s still plenty of cloud around. The circuit is now bone dry all the way around. |
| Lap 23 | After being hit from behind at the start by Bourdais, Trulli is lapping way off the pace. He will have damage to the rear end of the TF108. |
| Lap 24 | Hamilton is pushing on by the gap is not coming down. |
| Lap 25 | Raikkonen pits from the lead. |
| Lap 25 | Hamilton also in the pits. |
| Lap 25 | Clean stops for both and they exit in the same order. |
| Lap 26 | Rosberg pits his Williams. |
| Lap 27 | Raikkonen is slower on his out lap and the gap has come down to 4s. It is very dark overhead now with rain perhaps on the way. |
| Lap 27 | Glock pits from ninth position. |
| Lap 28 | Hamilton is still closing slightly on Raikkonen. |
| Lap 28 | Massa is pushing hard at the front and has not stopped a second time. |
| Lap 28 | Alonso pits and is understeering into the pits. |
| Lap 29 | Massa pits from the lead. |
| Lap 29 | Hamilton is now just over two seconds behind Raikkonen. Massa exits in third. |
| Lap 29 | The battle for the lead as Hamilton keeps the gap at three seconds. |
| Lap 30 | Bourdaios is still fourth ahead of Kubica and Vettel. |
| Lap 30 | Hamilton slides the McLaren through Les Combes. He is pushing very hard. |
| Lap 31 | Heidfeld will be looking to get the jump on Vettel when they pit for a final time. They remain sixth and seventh. |
| Lap 32 | Heidfeld pits for the final time. |
| Lap 33 | Raikkonen and Hamilton are lapping at the same pace at the front and the gap remains around the two second mark. |
| Lap 33 | Bourdais pits from fourth position. |
| Lap 33 | Webber makes his second stop. |
| Lap 34 | Kubica pits his BMW. He is looking to beat out Bourdais |
| Lap 34 | A 12 second stop for Kubica. A problem with the fuel rig. He exits behind Vettel. |
| Lap 35 | So Kubica's slow stop has cost him two positions as he now runs behind Vettel and BMW team-mate Heidfeld. |
| Lap 36 | As the stops shake out Alonso is back in fourth position. |
| Lap 36 | Nine laps remains and Raikkonen seems in control at the front with Hamilton two seconds back and Massa another three seconds. |
| Lap 37 | Trulli pits from the back of the field. |
| Lap 37 | Massa is still pushing to close the gap to Hamilton. |
| Lap 37 | Raikkonen leads Hamilton, Massa, Alonso, Bourdais, Vettel, Heidfeld, Kubica and Kovalainen. |
| Lap 38 | Raikkonen laps Nakajima and Hamilton is much closer. |
| Lap 38 | Hamilton gets no favours from Nakajima either as he laps the Williams. |
| Lap 38 | It is very dark but no rain. Will it hold off? |
| Lap 39 | Webber runs right behind Glock in a battle for tenth position. |
| Lap 40 | There are some spots of rain around, but it is very light at the moment and the circuit remains dry. |
| Lap 40 | Hamilton is closing again fast. He is about five car lenghths behind Raikkonen. |
| Lap 41 | The gap at the front is now less than a second. |
| Lap 41 | A slide again from Hamilton at Les Combes. He is on the limit. |
| Lap 41 | Another slide from Hamilton into the final turn. He loses a second. |
| Lap 42 | There is some light rain. |
| Lap 42 | Hamilton closes again and is right on Raikkonen again. |
| Lap 42 | Hamilton and Raikkonen side by side into the last turn. |
| Lap 43 | Hamilton takes the lead into La Source! |
| Lap 43 | Raikkonen was too catious on that lap. It is slippery now. |
| Lap 43 | Raikkoen forced Hamilton to run wide last lap. It is now raining hard. |
| Lap 43 | Hamilton off. Raikkonen spins! |
| Lap 43 | It is now wet. Glock and Heidfeld pits for wets. |
| Lap 43 | Raikkonen back on then hits the wall. Hamilton is back on track. |
| Lap 44 | Last lap! |
| Lap 44 | Hamilton leads Massa. Raikkonen is out. |
| Lap 44 | Hamilton off and on at Eau Rouge. |
| Lap 44 | Alonso, Rosberg and many others in the pits. |
| Lap 44 | Well. This is amazing... Hamilton is cruising... so slow in the wet with the dry tyres. |
| Lap 44 | Bourdais is third as Alonso stopped. |
| Lap 44 | Hamilton wins the Belgian Grand Prix.... |
| Lap 44 | Kovalainen is off. He was seventh. |
| Lap 44 | Massa is second. Heidfeld makes the pit stop work and is third ahead of Alonso, Vettel, Kubica, Bourdais and Glock. |
| Lap 44 | The rains turned the race on its head. A stunning final lap on iters from Heidfeld who pitted with a lap to go. |
| Lap 44 | So a thrilling end to the Grand Prix! |
