August 06, 2007	Monday	Rajab 21, 1428

BUDAPEST, Aug 5: McLaren's Lewis Hamilton led the Hungarian Grand Prix from start to finish on Sunday to stretch his championship lead over unhappy team mate Fernando Alonso to seven points.

The 22-year-old British rookie put behind him a pole position controversy and spy saga gripping McLaren to take his third win and 10th podium finish in 11 races and underscore his credentials as title favourite.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished second, 0.7 behind, with Germany's Nick Heidfeld third for BMW Sauber.

Spain's double world champion Alonso, who was stripped of pole and demoted to sixth place on the starting grid for unnecessarily impeding Hamilton in the final seconds of Saturday's qualifying, finished fourth.

Hamilton said his team mate had not spoken to him since Saturday's controversy.

As punishment for that same incident, but subject to appeal, leaders McLaren were barred from scoring points towards the constructors' championship in the race.

McLaren remained on 138 points, with Ferrari narrowing the gap on 119 with six races remaining.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa, third in the Formula One championship before Sunday's race, failed to score after starting 14th and slipped to fourth place overall.

Hamilton has 80 points, Alonso 73, Raikkonen 60 and Massa 59 in a championship that remains very much a four-way battle with an appeal hearing into the spy controversy also hanging over McLaren's hopes.

“It's been an eventful weekend and quite emotional for all the team,” said Hamilton, happy to be back on top after his sensational run of nine podiums in a row ended at the Nuerburgring two weeks ago with ninth place.

The McLaren rookie led all 70 laps of a race that, in contrast to all the excitement and controversy away from the track in the build-up, was uneventful and processional until the closing stages when Raikkonen closed right up on the Briton.

The Finn, pushing hard on a tight circuit that is a nightmare for overtaking, slotted into second place at the start and remained there throughout. He set the fastest lap of the race right at the end.

Poland's Robert Kubica, marking his first anniversary in Formula One after making his debut here last year, was fifth for BMW Sauber with Toyota's Ralf Schumacher sixth.

Germany's Nico Rosberg was seventh for Williams with Renault's Finnish rookie Heikki Kovalainen taking the last point for the struggling champions.

Briton Jenson Button, who took his first grand prix win in a wet Hungarian race last year after 113 starts, retired his Honda after 38 laps.

Results:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1hr 35min 52.991; 2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari +00:00.715; 3. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 00:43.129; 4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 00:44.858; 5. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 00:47.616; 6. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 00:50.669; 7. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams–Toyota 00:59.139; 8. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault 01:08.104; 9. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull–Renault 01:16.331; 10. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1 lap; 11. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull–Renault 1 lap; 12. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 1 lap; 13. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1 lap; 14. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams–Toyota 1 lap; 15. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri–Honda 1 lap; 16. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso–Ferrari 1 lap; 17. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Spyker–Ferrari 2 laps’ 18. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 2 laps.

Retired: Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso–Ferrari 28 laps; Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri–Honda 29 laps; Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 35 laps; Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) Spyker–Ferrari 66 laps.

Fastest lap: Kimi Raikkonen, 1:20.047, lap 70.—Reuters