McLaren expect Hamilton to be fully fit for Belgium

LONDON (Reuters) - Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton should be fully fit for next week's Belgian Grand Prix after a neck problem almost sidelined him in Spain last weekend, McLaren said on Wednesday.

"His physical problems are unlikely to disturb his fitness programme and we expect him to make a full recovery for both the Monza test and next week's Belgian GP," said team chief executive Martin Whitmarsh.

Whitmarsh gave further insight into just how close the 23-year-old Briton came to missing Sunday's European Grand Prix at the new Valencia street circuit.

"At 8 a.m. on Saturday, I received a phone call from the team's doctor, Aki Hintsa, telling me that Lewis was in some difficulties," he told the McLaren website (www.mclaren.com). "He'd woken up with a severe migraine and with his neck in spasm.

"Aki treated Lewis but, when he arrived at the circuit on Saturday morning, he could barely move his neck at all, so things looked very severe.

"As a precaution, we readied (reserve driver) Pedro (de la Rosa) to take over but, despite delaying his start to Saturday practice, Lewis was able to continue with his full race programme."

Hamilton qualified on the front row for the race and finished second behind Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa, extending his overall lead to six points with six races remaining.

Hamilton will test at Monza, the Italian Grand Prix circuit, this week before doing a demonstration run on Sunday around the Brands Hatch circuit in southern England during a DTM (German touring car championship) event.

He then heads to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.