FORMULA ONE

• Hamilton on verge of title with win in Japan

  
  

  Oyama, Japan (Sports Network) - Rookie Lewis Hamilton overcame rain, fog and the field to capture Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix at the Fuji Speedway and put himself in great position to win the Formula One drivers championship. The No.2 McLaren driver crossed the finish line 8.377 seconds ahead of Heikki Kovalainen.

  The victory was Hamilton's fourth of the season.

  "A very, very eventful race," said Hamilton. "There were so many times when we thought they should stop the race (because of the conditions)." With the rain pounding the track, the 67-lap event began with the safety car on track. Behind him sat pole winner Hamilton and his McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso.

  Even with the slow speeds, Felipe Massa spun on the first lap.

  Massa came right into the pits and changed to the "extreme" wet tire, but it left him at the back of the field when the race finally restarted. On lap three Raikkonen also made the change to "extremes" but it put him all the way at the back of the field as well.

  The strategical error meant that Ferrari drivers would almost be guaranteed to be eliminated from the championship.

  Even with the full-wet tires Raikkonen spun out on lap six.

  The race remained behind the safety car as the conditions continued to deteriorate.

  On laps 13 and 14 the Ferraris came back down pit lane and refilled their fuel tanks so they could reach the end of the race - either 67 laps or the two-hour time limit.

  Five laps later the safety came in and the "real" race began. The race lasted only half a lap before the carnage began. Massa and Alex Wurz collided ending Wurz's day.

  Up front, Hamilton and Alonso held the lead, but Nick Heidfeld and Jenson Button faded on the restart. Surprising Sebastien Vettel and Mark Webber were third and fourth, respectively.

  Hamilton and Alonso cracked the one minute, 30-second lap mark to build their lead over third place to 10.9 seconds. The McLaren's would need to build the lead to about 23 seconds if they wanted to pit and retain the race lead.

  By lap 24 Raikkonen had charged to 12th place, but some 43.1 seconds behind Hamilton.

  On lap 27, Alonso pitted (11.9 seconds), returning to the track in eighth place. Hamilton came in one lap later and after 11.6 seconds he returned in third place.

  Hamilton was now in great shape because the two cars in front of him still had to stop and he had a 4.9-second lead on fourth place Giancarlo Fisichella.

  The race leader was Vettel, posting his first ever laps led. He finally gave up the lead on lap 32 leaving just Webber between Hamilton and the lead.

  Robert Kubica and Kovalainen both got around Fisichella and they were Hamilton's primary challengers. On lap 34 Hamilton was hit by Kubica and both lost position to Kovalainen.

  Alonso was also sent into a spin and he too had to gather himself back up.

  "My visor was all fogged up and I didn't see that he was on the inside of me and I'm very fortunate that I still finished," said Hamilton.

  Hamilton got moving but was going slower than normal. Was something wrong with his McLaren? Webber pitted on lap 36 and Kovalainen, who still had to make one more stop, was the new race leader.

  Thirty laps to go and Raikkonen was racing his heart out trying to stay in the championship picture. He was seventh, 19.5 seconds behind the leaders.

  The leaders all pitted and Kubica was penalized for the incident with Hamilton leaving only Fisichella in front of Hamilton with 28 laps remaining. Hamilton was just 2.2 seconds behind Fisichella.

  Fisichella pitted on lap 41 and Hamilton inherited the lead and control of the championship.

  Hamilton's teammate and two-time defending champion Alonso hit the wall in turn five one lap later and was out of the race and maybe out of the title chase. There was debris all over the track and the safety car came out to slow the field.

  While the safety car was still out, third-place Vettel hit second-place Webber and both cars were out of the race in dramatic and tragic fashion. It moved Raikkonen back in a scoring position in seventh place.

  Lap 47 saw the safety car come in and the race restarted with four more laps to make the race "official" and up to 20 more laps if they went the full distance. Raikkonen was flying and up to fifth place.

  Hamilton's lead over Kovalainen was 4.239 seconds on lap 50. Two laps later the margin was more than six seconds. From there he cruised to the checkered flag without incident or challenge.

  Raikkonen got up to third place. David Coulthard, Fisichella, Massa, Kubica and Adrian Sutil completed the points- scoring positions.

  With Alonso's crash, Hamilton will take a 12-point lead over his teammate to the next race. Raikkonen is 17 points behind the rookie with just two events on the schedule.

  "Towards the end I just took it easy because it was so wet and my tires were getting old," said Hamilton.

  Race No.16 of 17 is scheduled for Sunday, October 7th in Shanghai, China.

  09/30 12:14:46 ET