The Sports Matrix: Monday 3 September 2012

Hamilton in hot water as Button cruises to victory

Lewis Hamilton was yesterday reprimanded by McLaren for tweeting important information about his vehicle, hours before a disastrous start saw him out of the Belgian Grand Prix inside the first lap at Spa.

Team-mate Jenson Button went on to win the race for McLaren, with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen also on the podium.

Earlier Hamilton had found himself in trouble with his team, who reacted strongly after he posted a picture of his qualifying lap overlay on Saturday.

"We did ask him to remove this morning's telemetry tweets," said team principal Martin Whitmarsh. Hamilton responded to the request by taking down many of the comments, one of which had contained the acronym "WTF".

His day got worse once the first race of the resumed Formula One season started, and after a collision with Romain Grosjean, Fernando Alonso and Kamui Kobayashi, Hamilton's race was over before completing a lap.

Button still trails Hamilton in the championship, with Fernando Alonso leading on 164 points. MORE

Free agent Owen attracting interest

Sunderland have expressed an interest in taking former Newcastle striker Michael Owen back to the North-east, while Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, has intimated that he would welcome the 32-year-old ex-England man – now a free agent – back to Anfield. MORE

Ben Arfa stunner denies Villa victory

Hatem Ben Arfa's equaliser saved Newcastle a point at St James' Park, after Ciaran Clark had given Aston Villa a first-half lead. Manager Alan Pardew was disappointed with the 1-1 draw and said: "We didn't deserve to win, given the indifference of our display." MORE

Cazorla impresses as Liverpool fall

Liverpool's disappointing start continued, as summer signing Santi Cazorla scored one and made another in a 2-0 win for Arsenal. Lukas Podolski got his first in a Gunners shirt after just five minutes, before Cazorla's strike found its way past Pepe Reina's near post. MORE

Van Persie dumps unlucky Saints

Robin van Persie scored a superb hat-trick as Manchester United came from behind late on to secure all three points at St Marys. The Dutchman didn't want to take all of the plaudits, however, and claimed that substitute Paul Scholes was the man of the match.

Blow for Bent as no Carroll cover called

England manager Roy Hodgson decided not to call up a back-up striker after Andy Carroll limped out of his Saturday West Ham debut with a hamstring injury – which must disappoint Aston Villa's Darren Bent and Stoke's Peter Crouch. MORE

Bell's classy 88 gives England lead

Ian Bell struck a superb 88 as England comfortably chased down South Africa's 221 target with 3.2 overs to spare. Jonathan Trott made a respectable 47, while James Tredwell took 3 for 35 to help his side take a 2-1 lead with one ODI remaining.

Fans' backing helps Davies win gold

Aled Davies broke a European record on the way to winning gold in the F42 discus at the Olympic Stadium, before thanking the crowd for his inspirational performance. "I didn't need to build myself up because the crowd were doing that." MORE

Tigers keep the tally up with win

Leicester Tigers kept up with the Premiership's high-scoring opening weekend with a convincing 38-13 win at London Welsh. England No 8 Thomas Waldrom scored two early tries and the away side turned on the style in the second half. MORE

Murray must see off 'dangerous' Raonic

Andy Murray, right, accepts that his fourth-round US Open opponent Milos Raonic is not a one-trick pony, as the Canadian 15th seed stands in the way of the Scot and a quarter-final place at Flushing Meadows. MORE

Wigan fight back from the death

In one of the greatest matches the Super League has seen, Wigan Warriors came back from a 26-0 first-half deficit to claim the Leaders' Shield by beating shell-shocked Hull KR 42-36. MORE