Hamilton wins dramatic dual with Raikkonen

(CNN) -- Lewis Hamilton won a dramatic dual with Kimi Raikkonen to triumph in the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps.

Hamilton survived a treacherous final two laps as rain began to fall, while Raikkonen spun off and crashed into a wall as his battle with Hamilton was reaching a climax.

Stewards announced afterwards that they were investigating an incident during the desperate tussle between Hamilton and Raikkonen in the late stages of the race..

The pair made contact several times while the McLaren driver tried to pass the Ferrari and when the Finn fought back.

Hamilton jumped the Bus Stop chicane before passing Raikkonen at La Source during the scrap.

McLaren chief Ron Dennis said he was confident that no action would be taken against either of the drivers.

Hamilton, starting on pole, lost the lead to Raikkonen with an early spin but fought back in the closing laps regained the lead with two laps to go.

As a soaking track made conditions extremely tricky Hamilton passed Raikkonen, only to fall behind again with a spin. The British McLaren driver again went ahead of the Ferrari and Raikkonen's bid for an important victory ended as he crashed.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa took second and is now eight points behind Hamilton.

In a chaotic final couple of laps, BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld jumped from eighth to third following an inspired decision to come in for wet-weather tires at the start of the last lap.

Renault's Fernando Alonso chose the same tactic and it secured the double world champion the fourth place he had held for much of the race.

After rain in the morning, the track was wet in the start and hairpin areas, but dry elsewhere .Rain was forecast making it difficult for teams to formulate race plans.

Most began on soft, dry tires and as Hamilton set off from pole position his team-mate Kovalainen made a disastrous start and fell from third to 13th on the opening lap.

Massa also faltered, running wide, but rejoined on the rush towards Eau Rouge.

Raikkonen was away brilliantly, quickly challenging Massa and taking second place while Alonso went fourth.

Hamilton was soon in trouble, losing control in the wet at the end of the opening lap spinning at La Source hairpin. Raikkonen dashed past him beyond Eau Rouge and up the hill to take the lead.

This left the Finn in front ahead of Hamilton with Massa third and the trio went on to dominate the rest of the race in changing conditions.

Hamilton was unable to stay in close contact and Raikkonen established a clear lead before the opening pit stops after 11 laps.

Hamilton rejoined in seventh place and Raikkonen pitted a lap later, rejoining in third as Massa took the lead for a lap before he too pitted.

By then Nelson Piquet, the only runner to have chosen intermediate tires, had put a tire on a white line and spun off into the barriers in his Renault.

As the midfield positions switched , Raikkonen stayed out on top by more than five seconds until the second stops when they switched to the harder tires.

Hamilton regained the initiative and reduced the Finn's lead to 1.3 seconds in the final sector of the race.

It was a close fight between the front three in terms of lap times as the dark clouds loomed over the forests for the final eight laps.

With six laps remaining, the first rain drops began to fall and produced the conditions that created the amazing final few laps when Hamilton grabbed the lead.

On lap 42, he passed Raikkonen before the rain fell heavily. With three laps remaining the race was turned into a lottery as they both spun but the issue was settled when Raikkonen crashed off into a wall and out of the race.

"I was praying: rain, rain, rain," Hamilton said. "I wanted the rain to come. But it was incredibly tough."