Renault, McLaren enter battle for F1 championship title

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen still have a championship to compete for this weekend at the Chinese Grand Prix, the final race of the Formula One season.

Not the driver's crown: Alonso already has that clinched. This time it's for the team title, with Renault's duo of Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella trying to stay ahead of McLaren's Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya.

The four drivers have won 17 of the 18 races between them this season.

Renault leads McLaren 176-174 in the constructor standings, reversing McLaren's two-point advantage held before the Japanese Grand Prix. The battle could go down to the last lap, just as Raikkonen passed Fisichella on the final circuit at Suzuka last week.

The team title hasn't been this close since 1999, when Ferrari won the first of its six consecutive titles -- barely beating McLaren, 128-124. That title was decided in the final race of that season, the Japanese Grand Prix. Ironically, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher lost the driving title to McLaren's Mika Hakkinen when Hakkinen won that race.

Schumacher and Ferrari went on to sweep the titles from 2000 to last year.

This season, Schumacher's only victory was a tainted one at the US Grand Prix when the top teams decided not to race because of safety concerns over their Michelin tires.

Although the 24-year-old Alonso claimed the driver's title in Brazil two races ago, Raikkonen, who is secure in second place for the season, is eager to gain his first team title with McLaren in China.

"It is going to be a nice race for both teams, I think. Last year our car was pretty quick there and I quite like the circuit, so for sure we will try to win the race and hopefully we can win the championship, too, for the team," Raikkonen said. ``We just need to do the best we can, and we will see at the end of the race what happens."

Schumacher and Montoya are locked in a struggle for third, although Fisichella, further back in the points, could pass them with a win in Shanghai.

Alonso is also looking forward to China and another chance to race all-out as he did in Japan, free of worries about his chances for the title. He finished third in Japan.

Montoya, who had won two of the last three races before last week, crashed at the end of the first lap in Japan, ending McLaren's hopes of clinching the title there.

McLaren has won the last six races, and 10 of 18 this season. Renault has won seven races, including the first five.

Fisichella won the first race of the season, then didn't come close again until the race in Japan -- where he came within one lap of another victory.

"I did everything I could to keep Kimi behind. But, you know, we came away with more points than McLaren, so we are leading the championship with one race left. That is a fantastic position to be in," Fisichella said.