Alonso gets early edge on Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso endured a titanic scrap at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Starting from the fourth and the third on the grid respectively, Alonso edged McLaren rival Hamilton wide going through the La Source hairpin.

The 22-year-old Briton, who leads Alonso by three points in the drivers’ standings, then appeared to have the edge as they went up the hill through Eau Rouge.

But Alonso managed to get the power down first and pulled ahead to hold onto his third spot, leaving the front row Ferraris away and clear.

Pole-man Raikkonen and Massa steered clear of one another, with the Finn edging in front at the end of the first lap.

Giancarlo Fisichella's race ended inside two minutes of the start, piling on the misery for the Renault driver.

The Italian had been forced to start at the back of the grid due to an engine change following yesterday’s qualifying session.

The car clearly had another problem as Fisichella trundled into the garage at the end of the first lap.

Raikkonen held a slender 1.6secs cushion over Massa at the end of the fourth lap, with the two Ferraris pulling clear of the rival McLarens.

Alonso was just over four seconds down on Raikkonen, with Hamilton trailing by another 1.5secs, while the BMW Sauber of Nico Rosberg was running in fifth.

Mark Webber, who had produced a superb passing manoeuvre on the sole-running Renault of Heikki Kovalainen on the third lap, was up to sixth.

Further down the field, David Coulthard and Jenson Button were running 11th and 14th for Red Bull Racing and Honda respectively.