SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) - Lewis Hamilton has been under an intense media spotlight at every grand prix in recent memory, but in Belgium, Thursday´s spy hearing and Ferrari´s pace have pushed him down the news agenda.

inland´s Kimi Raikkonen and Brazil´s Felipe Massa will occupy the front row of the Belgian Grand Prix grid after dominating qualifying on Saturday.

But as he prepares to start the race from fourth place, Hamilton, the 22-year-old British rookie, still leads the drivers´ championship and is still three points ahead of his teammate Fernando Alonso who starts third.

After qualifying Hamilton said: "I think it went reasonably well. As you can see Fernando has been extremely quick over the weekend.

"Ferrari are obviously a bit quicker than us, but I think it is very close. We have done a good job."

Hamilton is attempting to become the first ever rookie Formula One champion and if he manages to do so it will cap one of the most intriguing seasons in many years.

The spy drama has been a constant theme for most of the year and Hamilton accepts that the latest developments, he went to Paris to see his McLaren team fined 100 million dollars and excluded from the constructors´ championship, have not helped his preparation for Spa.

"Definitely it affected me because I had to go to Paris," said Hamilton. "It definitely didn´t help but for me I thought it was quite important that I was there to support the team because they need as much support as they can get."

Hamilton is unquestionably supportive of his team, and it appears that, for the moment anyway, the team are giving their full support to both their drivers.

Alonso gave the FIA email evidence that went a long way to deciding the spy case punishment but the Spaniard is still confident that McLaren are still working as hard as ever on his behalf.

"I have no concern," Alonso said. "I am totally happy with the team behaviour in this situation, and they always said that they will do the best they can to win races and championships. That is the way it is going now."

Alonso has steadfastly refused to comment on press reports that before the emails came to the FIA´s attention he threatened Dennis that he would leak them if he was not given higher status within the team than Hamilton.

Dennis though, has admitted that Alonso did make a threat and later withdrew it.