Hamilton ran off the track with nine laps to race but recovered to keep the lead and edge second-place Mark Webber of Red Bull.

“I locked my wheel and went wide,” Hamilton said. “I just clipped (the wall). But I was able to get away with it.” Webber dropped to second in the overall standings after failing to defend his pole position with a clutch problem giving him a poor start off the line.

Jenson Button's championship hopes took a hit after the defending F1 champion was knocked out of the race when Sebastian Vettel crashed into him during a failed overtaking maneuver.

Hamilton's 14th career win means the Briton has 182 points — three more than Webber — as the two opened up a gap at the top.

“It was a pretty mixed up race (so) I'm happy with second in the end,” Webber said.

Vettel stayed third with 151 points, Button is fourth with 147 and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari abandoned the race after spinning out to remain fifth on 141.

With six races remaining and the Italian GP next on Sept.

12, Alonso believed the championship remained wide open.

“In the next race maybe it's the opposite (results) and we go back to the positions we had yesterday afternoon,” the two-time world champion said. “For us, it's still a possibility.” Robert Kubica of Renault was third in the race ahead of Felipe Massa of Ferrari, while Force India's Adrian Sutil completed the top five.

Hamilton's victory means nine of 13 races have been won by drivers not on pole. Red Bull has taken pole for 12 of the 13 races.

“When you have a weekend and a race like that, when it can be a lottery, and you can come out on top — I'm really, really happy,” said Hamilton, who finally picked up a victory at Spa after having it taken away in 2008 for cutting a chicane.

Hamilton jumped into the lead as Webber started slowly to sit fifth behind Kubica, Button, Vettel and Massa.

Button overtook Kubica to put McLaren in the driver's seat while Alonso dropped into 18th after surviving Rubens Barrichello's crash into him on the second lap, with the safety car deployed and rain falling. Barrichello didn't return to complete his record 300th GP.

Vettel pushed ahead of Kubica into third behind the McLarens and Webber got past Massa for fourth when the safety car came in and the sun came out.

But the circuit was still slick and Vettel skidded into the side of Button.

“It's a massive blow, a massive blow,” Button said. “It was looking really good. I don't know what happened with Sebastian.” Vettel could only apologize after another erratic move left him without points. Vettel collided with Webber in Turkey in a similar move to go out of the race.