Lewis Hamilton took a giant stride towards becoming the first rookie formula one world champion when he won the Japanese grand prix at Fuji in appallingly wet conditions. The impact of Hamilton’s victory was magnified dramatically when Fernando Alonso, the reigning champion, crashed out on lap 42 of the 67-lap race and left Japan empty-handed.

So treacherous was the track surface that the race started behind the official safety car which led the field round for more than 40 minutes. When the race proper finally began, Hamilton immediately imposed himself and opened up a three second gap over Alonso.

The Ferrari threat was blunted by the team’s decision to start the race on wet, rather than extreme wet tyres. A bulletin from the race stewards an hour before the race warned competitors that all cars “should be fitted with extreme weather tyres.” Any car that was not could be flagged in by the stewards if it was considered to be a danger.

When Felipe Massa spun behind the safety car, both Ferraris were brought into the pits to change onto the more deeply grooved wets and fell to the back of the field. Jenson Button’s hopes of a strong result in the rain were also dashed when he suffered an early coming-together with Nick Heidfeld’s BMW, which was pitted for a new nose section.

Hamilton made his fuel stop on lap 27, with team mate Alonso pitting a lap later. Crucially, Hamilton rejoined ahead of a battling quartet of cars while Alonso came out of the pits just behind them. Trying to fight his way through the gaggle, he went off the circuit and came back on fully ten seconds behind Hamilton.

The McLaren pit stops handed the lead to 20-year-old German driver Sebastian Vettel, who was having just his fifth race for the lowly Toro Rosso team. With car set-up decided before qualifying and only minor changes allowed before the race, Toro Rosso had gambled on a wet Sunday while most of the other teams adopted compromise settings. Vettel took full advantage and led for three laps until he made his own fuel stop.

Lap 34 brought a heart-stopping moment for Hamilton as Robert Kubica, lighter because he had yet to stop for fuel, attempted to go inside the Mclaren but made contact, spinning both cars. Hamilton rejoined still ahead of Alonso who, a lap later, spun himself as he fought with Vettel’s Toro Rosso when it emerged from the pits. Pushing hard to recover, Alonso had a high speed shunt on lap 42, bringing out the Safety Car for the second time.

Forming up for the restart, Mark Webber’s Red Bull was behind Hamilton with Vettel in his wheeltracks. Toro Rosso is Red Bull’s junior team and, unbelievably, the inexperienced Vettel thumped the back of Webber’s car and took both out of the race with the safety car still out.

At the end of a six lap intervention the race resumed and a confident Hamilton reeled off the remaining laps as the race ran to its full two hour maximum. “That was the longest race of my life,” Hamilton beamed, as he contemplated a 12 point championship lead with two races to go.

Heikki Kovalainen narrowly held off the recovering Raikkonen to give the podium an all-Finnish flavour either side of the jubilant Hamilton. David Coulthard at least brought some consolation to Red Bull Racing when he came home fourth, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault and a dramatic last-lap scrap between Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica, which was just shaded by the Brazilian. Claiming the final point, and some solace for the Toro Rosso team, was Vitantonio Liuzzi who, unlike Vettel, had not raced with the benefit of full wet settings.

Meanwhile, Hamilton continues to rewrite the record books. If he can repeat his success in China, he will become the sport’s new champion, the youngest in formula one history by two years.

(07-25) 06:20 PDT HOUSTON, (AP) —

ConocoPhillips said Wednesday its second-quarter profit dropped 95 percent as the nation’s third-largest oil company incurred a $4.5 billion charged related to its assets in Venezuela, where it has abandoned its heavy oil projects. But the company’s adjusted earnings topped Wall Street expectations.

The result amounted to $301 million, or 18 cents a share for the April-June period, compared with last year’s robust second quarter when ConocoPhillips posted a profit of $5.18 billion, or $3.09 a share.

Revenue in the most recent quarter rose to $47.4 billion from $47.1 billion in the year-ago period.

Excluding the Venezuelan impairment, ConocoPhillips’ adjusted earnings amounted to $4.8 billion, or $2.90 a share.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast earnings of $2.68 a share.

ConocoPhillips, along with Exxon Mobil Corp., refused to sign deals last month with the Venezuelan government to keep pumping oil under tougher terms posed by President Hugo Chavez’s government.

ConocoPhillips continues negotiations with Venezuelan authorities on final compensatory terms for its multibillion-dollar investment in the country’s petroleum-rich Orinoco River basin. ConocoPhillips Chairman Jim Mulva has said such talks could take several more months.

The company said last month the $4.5 impairment was likely in the second quarter.

The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee unexpectedly voted by a majority of just one not to raise interest rates again this month, with the governor, Mervyn King, outvoted.

Minutes of the June 6-7 meeting released this morning caused sterling to jump against other countries and interest rate futures move to price in another rate rise in the very near future.

Mr King was joined by deputy governor John Gieve, Tim Besley and Andrew Sentance in calling for a second consecutive rate rise this month, which would have taken bank rate to 5.75%.

But the other five members, including the other deputy governor, Rachel Lomax and chief economist Charlie Bean, voted to leave rates steady

Analysts had expected a 7-2 vote to leave rates on hold and this marks only the second time in the MPC’s 10-year existence that the governor has been on the wrong side of a rate vote.

MPC members arguing for no change in rates said a decision to hike rates in June would have surprised the market and “probably pushed the yield curve higher, which would not be warranted”.

They also pointed to the need for “measured” rate rises given the high level of personal debt - interest rates have already risen four times in the last year - and said there were early signs of the housing market and consumer spending slowing.

But the hawks argued that not much had changed since the May Inflation Report which had signalled one more rate rise.

“For these members there was no compelling reason to wait. Moreover, by raising now, the peak in interest rates could eventually be lower,” the minutes said.

In contrast to the doves, the hawks said a rate rise would not have been much of a surprise.

They also pointed to house price inflation being higher in almost every part of the country and said the easing in spending data was at best tentative.

Separately, the Bank released data on M4 money supply which showed it growing by 1.2% in May from April to stand 13.8% higher from a year earlier - the biggest rise since October 2006.

Other data from the British Bankers Association showed underlying net mortgage lending rose by its largest amount in six months in May, although the Building Societies Association said lending by its members eased on the year.