The 22-year-old Briton dominated the first part of the race in damp and greasy conditions, but his intermediate tyres degraded badly on a drying track in the middle stint until the right-rear was worn down to the canvas.

First Hamilton lost the lead to Kimi Raikkonen, who went on to claim his fifth victory of the season and keep his title hopes alive.

Then disaster struck as he finally came in for new rubber on lap 32 only to lose control in the pit entry lane and bog down in the gravel.

Outpaced by Hamilton again, Fernando Alonso drove a hard race to finish second and slash his team-mate’s title lead to just four points.

Felipe Massa came home third in the second Ferrari, while Sebastian Vettel used a one-stop strategy to claim a miraculous fourth place for Toro Rosso.

Tonio Liuzzi completed a stellar day for the small Italian outfit by finishing sixth.

The inclement conditions allowed Jenson Button to shine, the Briton taking a season-high fifth for Honda.

Nick Heidfeld took the flag in seventh and David Coulthard just held off Heikki Kovalainen for the final point.

1.  RAIKKONEN     Ferrari   

2.  ALONSO        McLaren     +9.8s

3.  MASSA         Ferrari     +12.8s

4.  VETTEL        Toro Rosso  +53.5s

5.  BUTTON        Honda       +1m08.6s

6.  LIUZZI        Toro Rosso  +1m13.6s

7.  HEIDFELD      BMW         +1m14.2s

8.  COULTHARD     Red Bull    +1m20.7s

9.  KOVALAINEN    Renault     +1m21.1s

10. WEBBER        Red Bull    +1m24.6s

11. FISICHELLA    Renault     +1m26.6s

12. WURZ          Williams    +1 lap

13. TRULLI        Toyota      +1 lap

14. SATO          Super Aguri +1 lap

15. BARRICHELLO   Honda       +1 lap

16. ROSBERG       Williams    +2 laps

17. YAMAMOTO      Spyker      +3 laps

R.  KUBICA        BMW         +23 laps

R.  HAMILTON      McLaren     +26 laps

R.  SCHUMACHER    Toyota      +31 laps

R.  SUTIL         Spyker      +32 laps

R.  DAVIDSON      Super Aguri +45 laps

source: itv-f1.com