You’re really pushing your luck, Lewis tells Alonso

As Formula One turned from Spygate to Spa wars, it emerged that Alonso offered his side of the garage a £10,000-per-race performance bonus — £650 for each of his 15 men — in another desperate ploy to reel in his McLaren team-mate.

But the Spaniard, whose thirdplaced finish narrowed his deficit to just two points heading into the final three rounds, was prevented from carrying through the plan because team principal Ron Dennis decided it was too divisive.

Alonso instead resorted to dirty driving. He veered across Hamilton at the start and then pushed him wide coming out of the first hairpin, La Source, shoving him over the kerb, through the grass and on to the tarmac the other side.

If it had been another circuit, Hamilton would have been in the wall. He kept his composure to steer his way back on to the track but his momentum was lost and Alonso nosed ahead through Eau Rouge.

The culprit blamed Felipe Massa's locked front wheel, claiming the Brazilian denied him space. It was unconvincing, just as Dennis's answer — citing 'clean but aggressive racing' — sounded like diplomacy.

Hamilton was in no mood for a whitewash. He said: "The last few years I have been watching F1 and Fernando has always been complaining about other people being unfair. It was blatant. He pushed me wide quite deliberately. For someone who is trying to set a standard, he is not living up to it. "There was enough room for us both to get round, but suddenly I didn't have any room. It was not a fair or race manoeuvre. I was lucky there was a run-off area."

Alonso's underhand tactics came two days after it emerged that he threatened to blow the whistle on McLaren over their role in the spying row with Ferrari unless he was given No 1 status. During that showdown with Dennis at the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 5, he demanded that Hamilton be slowed down and said he would even leave the team unless he got his way.

It shows how Alonso is prepared to use any trick to come out on top against an adversary he has struggled to tame fair and square.

Hamilton, whose lead has been dramatically narrowed from its 14-point peak following the French Grand Prix in July, said: "I don't fear anyone. I will just keep on pushing. The gap is closing but there are still three races left and I am still leading the championship."

Spa's return to the calendar was hailed as a precursor to some great racing at one of the sport's signature circuits. In fact, after the Hamilton- Alonso spat on the first of 44 laps, this was no more than a procession. Kimi Raikkonen led home Ferrari's third one-two of the season, the two McLarens following them home.

Ferrari president Luca de Montezemolo, tongue in cheek, dedicated victory to the man at the Horsham print shop who first alerted them to the 780-page dossier passed from Ferrari to McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan. It was the spark which lit the whole controversy.

Victory was a sweet moment for the Scuderia after being embarrassed in front of their home fans at Monza seven days before. The result also confirmed them as constructors' champions, as long as McLaren's expulsion at last Thursday's spy trial is not overturned.

While Massa, 20 points off Hamilton, is out of title contention, Raikkonen could yet stage a late surge for the line.

If Hamilton holds off the challenge of his pursuers, he faces another issue: whether the title will be tarnished after he and Alonso were granted immunity from punishment because they gave evidence in the espionage controversy.

For him, that is a secondary issue. The real argument is taking place on the track.

HOW THEY FINISHED

1 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1hr 20min 39.066sec, 2 F Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:20:43.761, 3 F Alonso (Sp) McLaren 1:20:53.409, 4 L Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:21:02.681, 5 N Heidfeld (G) BMW Sauber 1:21:30.945, 6 N Rosberg (G) Williams 1:21:55.942, 7 M Webber (A) Red Bull 1:21:59.701, 8 H Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:22:04.172, 9 R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:22:04.727, 10 R Schumacher (G) Toyota 1:22:07.640, 11 J Trulli (It) Toyota 1:22:22.702, 12 V Liuzzi (It) Scuderia Toro Rosso, 13 R Barrichello (Brz) Honda, 14 A Sutil (G) Spyker, 15 T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri, 16 A Davidson (GB) Super Aguri, 17 S Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker at 1 lap. Not Classified: 18 J Button (GB) Honda 36 laps completed, 19 A Wurz (Aut) Williams 34 laps, 20 D Coulthard (GB) Red Bull 29 laps, 21 S Vettel (G) Scuderia Toro Rosso 8 laps, 22 G Fisichella (It) Renault 1 lap.

HOW THEY STAND

Drivers — 1 Hamilton 97pts, 2 Alonso 95, 3 Raikkonen 84, 4 Massa 77, 5 Heidfeld 56, 6 Kubica 33, 7 Kovalainen 22, 8 Fisichella 17, 9 Rosberg 15, 10 Wurz 13, 11 Webber 10, 12 Coulthard 8, 13 Trulli 7, 14 Schumacher 5, 15 Sato 4, 16 Button 2, 17 Vettel 1. Manufacturers — 1 Ferrari 161pts, 2 BMW Sauber 90, 3 Renault 39, 4 Williams 28, 5 Red Bull 18, 6 Toyota 12, 7 Super Aguri 4, 8 Honda 2.