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SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Kimi Raikkonen led from start to finish to record his third consecutive Belgian Grand Prix victory at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Finn started on pole position and took quick command of the race, establishing a comfortable cushion between himself and his Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa before going on to complete a Ferrari one-two.
Ferrari's third one-two of the season means they have secured the constructors' championship.
Fernando Alonso finished third ahead of his McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton, who now leads the drivers' championship by just two points.
Considering the off-track distractions, third and fourth place was a strong performance from the British team still reeling from their 100 million dollars fine and exclusion from the constructors' championship after Thursday's FIA 'spygate' hearing.
Germans Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg finished fifth and sixth for BMW and Williams respectively.
Australian Red Bull driver Mark Webber and Renault's Finn Heikki Kovalainen were the others to score points.
Now that McLaren are out of the constructors' title race Hamilton and Alonso are free to fight amongst themselves for the drivers' title, and that fight began in earnest at the start of the 14th race of the 17-race season.
Hamilton, starting from fourth, made the quicker start, forcing third-placed Alonso to dart across the track and block his teammate. This, however, did not discourage the 22-year-old rookie who saw a chance to sneak past Alonso on the outside.
Once again the Spaniard slammed the door shut, this time barging Hamilton right off the track.
Though he was able to rejoin the fray without losing a place Hamilton was forced to settle in behind the double world champion and is unlikely to be overly impressed with his aggressive defending.
Up ahead Raikkonen and Massa had made a clean getaway and the Ferrari pair set about establishing a cushion between them and the chasing pack.
Some of the most impressive early racing was done by BMW's Robert Kubica, the Pole started from 15th but soon carved his way into eighth place (he would eventually have to settle for ninth).
Also making early progress was Adrian Sutil who managed to extract maximum pace from the new improved Spyker car. Sutil, the highly-rated German rookie who started from 20th, made up eight places in the first six laps and was soon challenging David Coulthard for 11th place.
Sutil eventually finished 14th after making a mistake at the Les Combes corner, but the all too brief moments of promise will buoy the Dutch team who are used to running right at the back.
The frontrunners began to come in for their first pit stops on the 16th lap and all four emerged without incident.
Soon after there was a worrying moment for Hamilton but he managed to compose himself after missing the apex of the final corner, and resume his pursuit of Alonso.
The two Ferraris had now established a ten second advantage over the McLarens and with Raikkonen ahead of Massa by a further five seconds; the real race appeared now to be for third and fourth place between the warring teammates in the silver and black cars.
Steadily Alonso eased further ahead of Hamilton and the by the time they leaders pitted for the final time his advantage over Hamilton was pushing five seconds.
Raikkonnen, Massa and Alonso all stopped soon after the 30 lap mark but Hamilton's strategy kept him out for four extra laps.
It was to no great avail though; the four men at the top of the drivers' standings finished the race in the order they had started it and the championship goes to Asia just that little bit tighter at the top.
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