Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (My Sportsbook) - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix in dramatic fashion at the 4.352-mile Spa- Francorchamps circuit. Hamilton battled Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in slippery road conditions before taking the lead from him with two laps to go.

The victory was Hamilton's fifth of the season and the ninth of his F1 career.

"It was an experience and a half," Hamilton said. "I wanted the rain to come because I knew how to deal with it, and so the heavens opened, and I saw Kimi begin to back off, brake a lot earlier than he did normally into turn eight and that's where I knew the fight was on."

Hamilton now holds an eight-point lead over Felipe Massa, who finished second, with just five races remaining in the season.

Nick Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top-five.

With poor weather conditions prior to the start of the race, sections of the track were wet when they rolled off the grid. Hamilton started on the pole and successfully got around the slippery first bend as several cars slid into the asphalt. Heikki Kovalainen started third but dropped to 13th when he was involved in the incident. But Kovalainen quickly made his way back up to eighth position on fifth lap.

Raikkonen passed his teammate Massa for second on the first lap and then grabbed the lead from Hamilton on the following lap when Hamilton got loose. The two ran first and second until they pitted on Lap 11 with Massa inheriting the lead. Raikkonen was back in front when Massa came in for his stop. The Finn built a four-second lead over Hamilton after the first round of stops was completed.

Raikkonen held a six-second advantage over Hamilton just before the two pitted at the same time on Lap 25. However, Hamilton was able to narrow the margin to 3.8 seconds after their stops.

With six laps remaining in the 44-lap event, rain drops began to fall on the track. Raikkonen held 1.9-second lead over Hamilton, but as rain intensified in the following laps, the two struggled to keep their cars on the track.

Hamilton chased down Raikkonen and caught him on Lap 42. Hamilton ran across the "bus stop" chicane as he attempted to pass Raikkonen but surrendered the position.

Hamilton then spun on the grass but recovered as he dived past Raikkonen for the lead. With one last effort to win his fourth-straight race at Spa, Raikkonen quickly reclaimed the top spot as Hamilton ran wide, but Raikkonen lost it for good when he spun off the track and hit the wall. He ended up finishing 18th.

The maneuver between Hamilton and Raikkonen on Lap 42 was under investigation by the race stewards at the conclusion of the event.

Raikkonen did not add any points to his season tally. The defending F1 champion is now 23 points behind Hamilton.

The next F1 race is set for Sunday, September 14th, in Monza, Italy.