. . . and as the lights go out it is Hamilton who gets the best start of the front four on the grid getting away without wheel-spin and pulling alongside the Red Bull on the left as they run for the first corner but being forced almost off the track and into the barriers by really aggressive driving from Webber as the Australian driver tries to defend his position and runs wide at the hairpin as a result allowing the McLaren through followed by Alonso and Button with Webber now recovering from that bit of a moment with Hamilton and Vettel already way out on his own using all the road and a bit more as he sweeps through the left right of Eau Rouge without touching the brakes then away up the hill negotiating the easy left-hander of Raidillion and accelerating hard on his way to the slow chicane at Les Combes just showing the pack how it should be done leaving his braking until the very last moment and then easing the car over the kerbs whilst being careful not to get on the power too soon thus losing the rear end but disaster as Alonso brakes ridiculously late for Rivage just clipping the rear wing of the Hamilton McLaren and proceeding straight to the scene of the accident promoting Button to second place and defending hard gainst Webber as they negotiate the right-hander of Stavelot and accelerate down through Blanchimont pulling some five G and putting enormous strain on the soft-compound Pirelli tyres which are only likely to last ten laps before we see the leaders coming in for their first change when some may want to get the hard compound out of the way although the cars are still carrying a high fuel load and that means higher tyre wear for the first half of this race although that is unlikely to bother the fast-disappearing Vettel who has already pulled out a lead of one point three seconds in the first two sectors and that without using his KERS as you can see from the on-screen graphic which also show DRS deployment although that cannot be used for the first two laps the zone being marked by the line across the track just before Kemmel where the cars will be almost taking off as they crest the hill but meanwhile Vettel is through the Bus Stop and completes the first lap ahead of Button Alonso and then a long way back Massa who has been struggling most of the season to match Alonso which surely indicates that this will be his last season at Ferrari as next year as they are bound to want to bring in some fresh blood to partner Alonso who I can now see nursing his car back to the pits with a front-wheel puncture and a damaged wing that will mean a change of nose cone before he can re-join the race which Vettel is now in complete control of as he rounds La Source at the start of lap two and the lights come on again and my mother tells me to stop chattering to myself and go to sleep