Sport

Superb Alonso wins Japanese GP
by Niamh O'Mahony, 12 October 2008

Fernando Alonso picked up his second consecutive Formula 1 victory by winning in Japan on Sunday, after a clash between title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa ended the pair's respective hopes of glory.

Alonso pounced on a poor start from the championship leader to overcome BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica with a superior race strategy, helped by a series of scintillating laps through the middle stint of the Spaniard's race.

Kubica eventually came home second after holding off a late charge from World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, with Massa eighth and Hamilton back in 12th.

The result sees the latter's advantage cut to six points with two races remaining, while Nick Heidfeld and Raikkonen can no longer win the title.

Fourth was claimed by Renault's Nelson Piquet after a solid race display from the Brazilian, who started 12th on the grid, with Jarno Trulli fifth for home team Toyota. Sebastien Bourdais was the first of the Toro Rosso cars home - in sixth - with team-mate Sebastian Vettel one spot behind in seventh.

Red Bull's Mark Webber finished just outside the points after Massa got by the Australian's Red Bull with just three laps remaining.

The event itself was captivating right from the beginning. Hamilton made a poor start and was passed by Raikkonen before the Briton barged his way back down the inside of the Ferrari racer at Turn 1.

The 23-year-old's momentum carried him wide, however, pushing both Raikkonen and Massa off track and allowing Kubica, Alonso and Kovalainen by.

Hamilton was later handed a drive through penalty for the incident - discovering his fate on the same lap [16] that team-mate Kovalainen was forced to retire on, but even more drama was to follow on the very next lap.

Massa also managed to pass the Englishman in the first lap fuss but was quickly under pressure from his title rival, who seemed to get by through Turn 10.

The Brazilian refused to give up the position without a fight though, and hurdled across the chicane at the very next corner - with all four wheels on the grass - before slamming into the side of Hamilton, forcing the McLaren to spin.

Massa was able to continue almost immediately but Hamilton was forced to leave the entire field go by before turning his car around and heading for pit lane.

With his race hopes in ruins, McLaren fuelled their man to the brim but he rejoined the action over 25 seconds off the final runner, David Coulthard having crashed off at the first corner.

Massa, duly, was penalised for the incident, which dropped him out of the top ten, though some sizzling laps late on allowed the Scuderia racer work his way back up to eighth to collect a valuable championship point - in spite of a scare when he collided with Bourdais on lap 50.

Hamilton, in contrast, was unable to make an impression after his second stop and came home behind Nico Rosberg, who was 11th for Williams.

There was also plenty of action at the sharp end of the field with Kubica, Alonso and Raikkonen all trading laps in a bid to secure the upper hand.

The Pole led until the first set of stops when Renault put a lighter fuel load on board their man's car and ordered him to drive its wheels off.

Alonso has done exactly that many times in the past and was quickly able to establish a 12-second lead which was enough to hold his position ahead of Kubica and a flying Raikkonen through the final pit stops.

The Finn, for his part, reduced Kubica's five-second lead over him to nothing with a lighting in-lap and clean stop from his crew, but despite his best efforts - particularly on lap 53 - the reigning Champion was simply unable to get by the man who currently lies third in the standings.

A long first stint for Piquet was key to his fourth-place finish, while Trulli brought his Toyota home after a disappointing early exit for team-mate Timo Glock - mechanical gremlins hitting the German's car.

It was also a good day for Bourdais, who got the best of colleague Vettel for once, though another double-points race will see the smiles remain down at Toro Rosso.

A puncture ended Adrian Sutil's day early on - while running tenth for Force India - while Giancarlo Fisichella was forced to retire with 46 laps still left in the event.

Next up for Hamilton and co. is the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai next weekend, a race that is live on Setanta Ireland with live commentary right here on setantasports.com

Japan Grand Prix - provisional race results

Pos Driver Team Time