In hot water for tweeting top secret team information and taken out at the first corner... once again, it's all about Lew

A controversial weekend went from bad to worse for Lewis Hamilton at the Belgian Grand Prix when his race ended in spectacular fashion on the very first corner.
The McLaren driver was involved in a dramatic six-car pile up at the tight La Source hairpin just seconds into the race.
Squeezed by Romain Grosjean, Hamilton was left with nowhere to go, and as their wheels touched Grosjean was launched off the back of Sebastian Perez’s Sauber before coming crashing down on the nose of Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari.

Away from the danger: Button leads into the first corner as the carnage starts behind him

Crash: Button (front centre) leads while Romain Grosjean (back left) goes airbone

Frightening scenes: Lewis Hamilton (right) and Fernando Alonso (left) crash out at the first corner

Belgian Grand Prix result

1 Jenson Button (McLaren)
2 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
3 Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
4 N Hulkenberg (Force India)
5 F Massa (Ferrari)
6 M Webber (Red Bull)
7 M Schumacher (Mercedes)
8 J Vergne (Toro Rosso)
9 D Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
10 P Di Resta (Force India)

Earlier, Hamilton had risked causing almost as much carnage on Twitter, with a bizarre decision to post sensitive team telemetry information on the social networking site. His team were furious, and immediately demanded that he remove the offending tweet.

And typically, he was already in hot water, having caused an earlier Twitter storm by complaining about being outpaced in qualifying by his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, the eventual race winner.

Alonso can count himself lucky to have avoided serious injury as Grosjean’s airborne Lotus narrowly avoided landing on his head.

Unharmed: Hamilton clambers out the wreckage of his car after the nasty crash on the first lap

Precautions: Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso is helped out of his car by a doctor after the pile-up

Fury: Hamilton gestures at Grosjean, who seemed to have caused the crash with reckless driving

At least Hamilton was not at fault for the smash. That dubious honour went to Lotus youngster Grosjean, a fact reflected by the one-race ban and £40,000 fine handed to him by the stewards, the first since Mika Hakkinen was blamed for a crash at the German Grand Grand Prix in 1994.

Out of control, Hamilton, along with Alonso, Grosjean and Perez, was out of the race and the jump-starting Pastor Maldonado of Williams, handed a 10-place grid penalty after the race, and Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi limped back to the pits for repairs.

Button, on his first pole position for McLaren in his 50th race for them, watched the early drama unfold in his mirrors. After that his competitors remained in the background for the rest of the race, his advantage so great that he emerged from his one pit stop still in front.

Hamilton was left to remonstrate with Grosjean, while the medical teams ensured Alonso had not been badly hurt.

Hamilton said: ‘His rear wheel was in my side pod so I couldn’t do anything and he kept coming. I am just grateful that nobody was injured.

‘It was very, very close with Fernando. The FIA and the people in Formula One have done a great job improving safety so we can walk away from incidents like today’s.’

Shock: World championship leader Alonso sits in the medical car recovering from the big crash

Top secret: Hamilton tweeted sensitive telemetry data

Asked whether he would speak to Grosjean, Hamilton added: ‘Why? It would make no difference. Who cares what I think, what you think and what he thinks?’
The crash having sparked a cockpit fire, Alonso was more forthright, saying it felt like he had been ‘hit by a train’ before urging ‘certain drivers to take fewer risks at the start’.

The smash was certainly not what Hamilton had in mind when he promised to do all he could to help his team-mate following his own qualifying disappointment. On this kind of form, Button does not need any assistance. Indeed, any discussion about Button playing second fiddle to Hamilton was banished by the fact that this win cut the gap between them to just 16 points.

The leader of the pack: Jenson Button claimed a pole to podium victory in Spa

Victory parade: Button finished in first ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen

Back on top: McLaren's British star Jenson Button (centre) celebrates on the podium

Slashing the 63-point deficit to championship leader Alonso will prove a more formidable task.
Button said: ‘It’s a long shot but today proves you can claw back 25 points quickly. If we can keep fighting for victories I have a small chance.’

Behind Button, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus had a much busier afternoon’s work to finish second and third. But their efforts were well rewarded, especially as Alonso failed to finish in the points for the first time in 24 races.

Vettel was the biggest beneficiary of the crash. The world champion heads to Monza next weekend 24 points behind Alonso. Button will also be confident that on a track with similar low downforce characteristics as Spa he can make it back-to-back wins.

Hamilton, by contrast, could not decide whether having races in such close proximity was a help or a hindrance, but the need this week to attend the funeral of his aunt, who recently lost her battle against cancer, is sure to strain his emotions yet further.