AT the podium: McLaren's Hamilton at the center flanked by Red Bull's Webber and Ferrari's Alonso.

MANILA, Philippines -- McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton hit back emphatically at his critics with a beautifully judged drive to victory at a mostly dry Nurburgring on Sunday afternoon, in a race which he described to his crew as ‘easy’ during his slowing down lap. Hamilton grabbed the lead from Red Bull’s Mark Webber at the start as Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel scrapped over third place on a track that was slightly slippery in places from a very light shower just as the grid formed.

Vettel took third when Alonso made a mistake, but the Spaniard later repassed him and Vettel lost time first with a half spin in Turn 10 on the ninth lap, then with a rear brake problem.

Hamilton momentarily lost the lead to Webber on the 12th lap after a slow exit from the chicane, but immediately overtook him going into Turn One. Later, however, the Australian took the lead after an early pit stop on Lap 14. The reshuffled order saw Webber ahead of Hamilton, with Alonso very much in play.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and McLaren’s Jenson Button had meanwhile lost time at the start and had ground to make up. Webber was again the first to make his second stop, again for soft Pirellis, on Lap 30. Hamilton and Alonso stopped on Laps 31 and 32 respectively, and this time McLaren got their man out ahead again to set the pattern for the race.

All three ran as fast and as long as they could on their second sets of soft tires, which were faster than the harder compounds. Behind them, Massa fought a great battle to keep a recovering Vettel at bay for fourth.

Hamilton clearly had the pace to keep Alonso behind, as Webber appeared to fade for a while. As the countdown began to the final stops, McLaren turned Hamilton round quickly again, as he was the first to stop on Lap 51, and though Alonso went two laps later and Webber another three beyond that, there was never any doubt about the outcome as the 2008 world champion won by 3.9s.

Alonso crossed the line 5.8s ahead of Webber, but hitched a ride home on the Red Bull’s sidepod after running out of fuel on the slowdown lap.

The Massa-Vettel duel was settled by Ferrari’s crew on the penultimate lap as both dived into the pits together but Red Bull got their man out quicker, handing him fourth place. Massa was a hugely disappointed fifth.

Behind them, Adrian Sutil made tremendous use of a two-stop strategy to take sixth place for Force India after a measured drive, beating the three-stopping Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher who, like Vettel, spun in Turn 10.

The two silver cars were hounded throughout by Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber after the Japanese driver made a superb start, and he took ninth place just ahead of Vitaly Petrov who had tough battles with Button, Schumacher and Kobayashi on his way to 10th and the final point.

Hamilton’s win moves him to third in the title chase on 134 points to Vettel’s 216 and Webber’s 139, with Alonso on 130 and Button grounded on 109. Red Bull extended their constructors’ points score to 355, with McLaren on 243 to Ferrari’s 192. Mercedes pulled further ahead of Renault, with 78 to 66.