Lewis Hamilton took the lead of the world championship from Mark Webber on Sunday, by beating the Australian to victory at slippery Spa-Francorchamps.<\/p>\n
As the fickle Belgian Ardennes continued to produce changeable weather conditions, the mere 20-point gap that had separated the top five title chargers blew out to more than 40.<\/p>\n
One big loser on Sunday was Fernando Alonso, initially taken out by Rubens Barrichello at the start of the race before crashing on his own at the end.<\/p>\n
Also now a long way behind in the championship – 35 points – is Jenson Button, who was innocently taken out by Sebastian Vettel as the Red Bull charger lost control during an overtaking attempt.<\/p>\n
“It’s a massive blow — a massive blow,” Button said on BBC television, shortly before Vettel said “sorry” in his own media scrum.<\/p>\n
There is clearly no love lost between the drivers’ management, with McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh admitting he thinks Vettel “got off lightly” with a drive-through penalty.<\/p>\n
Red Bull’s Christian Horner naturally adjudged the penalty “a bit too hard”.<\/p>\n
“What else can you give him?” said Button.\u00a0 “It was a racing incident, he didn’t do it on purpose.”<\/p>\n
Horner added: “You need to take into account the difficult weather conditions and that Jenson braked early.”<\/p>\n
Vettel, scoring no points at Spa and now 31 points behind his teammate, also had to serve extra pitlane time after cutting a tyre on Tonio Liuzzi’s Force India.<\/p>\n
“Everything that could go wrong for Sebastian went wrong today,” boss Horner told German Sky television.<\/p>\n
In the sister Red Bull, Webber’s second place on Sunday leaves him just 3 points adrift Hamilton and well clear of the next challenger.<\/p>\n
He intimated to reporters that the team might now be wise to back him for the last six races of 2010.<\/p>\n
“It depends how hungry they are,” he said.<\/p>\n
But Horner said: “It’s too early for that.\u00a0 Sebastian is still in it.\u00a0 We have seen already how quickly the tide can turn.”<\/p>\n
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