Lewis Hamilton settled some nerves in the McLaren garage as he walked away with not only the Belgian GP race victory, but also the fastest lap.
McLaren were expected to do well at Spa - and at Monza in a fortnight - as their MP4-25 is well suited to the low downforce track and Hamilton made sure they got the first part of the job done.
The Brit, who started on the first row of the grid, dominated the fastest lap times in the early part of the race, but Mark Webber and Robert Kubica threatened to nab the honour from under his nose following their pit stops late in the race.
However, it was Hamilton who came out tops with a 1:49.069 which was posted 12 laps before the end. His time was three tenths better than that of the Red Bull driver while Kubica was another 0.412 down.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa set the fourth best time with a 1:50.111 and Force India's Adrian Sutil completed the top five with a 1:50.477. In fact, the five fastest laps sequence was the same as the top five finishing drivers.
Times
1. L Hamilton McLaren 1:49.069
2.M Webber Red Bull 1:49.395
3. R Kubica Renault 1:49.807
4. F Massa Ferrari 1:50.111
5. A Sutil Force India 1:50.477
6. S Vettel Red Bull 1:50.868
7. V Petrov Renault 1:51.175
8. F Alonso Ferrari 1:51.374
9. J Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:51.576
10. N Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:51.688
11. K Kobayashi Sauber 1:51.749
12. N Hulkenberg Williams 1:51.864
13. M Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:51.914
14. T Liuzzi Force India 1:52.267
15. P de la Rosa Sauber 1:52.537
16. J Button McLaren 1:52.879
17. S Buemi Toro Rosso 1:52.966
18. J Trulli Lotus 1:55.103
19. T Glock Virgin 1:55.268
20. S Yamamoto HRT 1:55.484
21. L di Grassi Virgin 1:55.705
22. H Kovalainen Lotus 1:55.797
23. B Senna HRT 2:20.201
24. R Barrichello Williams - no time
