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Stunned Alonso wins Japanese Grand Prix

Japanese driver Kazuki Nagajima, front, tries to go back to the track after colliding with British driver David Coulthard, top, just after the start of the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix at the Fuji Speedway circuit in Oyama, Japan, on Sunday. PHOTO: AFP

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso admitted he was stunned yesterday after claiming his second successive victory by winning an incident-packed Japanese Grand Prix.

As the main championship protagonists licked their wounds on a day of errors, collisions and penalties, the Spaniard steered his Renault home just two weeks after winning in Singapore for his 21st career triumph.

“It is so difficult to believe, to win, back to back victories, it is hard to believe,” he said. “The team has done such a great job with the car.”

Alonso took full advantage of a bad day for title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa as he came home 5.2 seconds clear of second placed Pole Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber.

Defending drivers world champion Kimi Raikkonen finished third for Ferrari.

“I made a decent start and when the others went off I was able to go through behind Robert [Kubica] and then I had a really great second stint that won me the race,” Alonso said. “It is a great feeling to win again and to have back-to-back victories is really good for the team. It is very nice.”

A model poses for reporters prior to the start of the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at the Fuji Speedway circuit in Oyama, Japan, on Sunday. PHOTO: AP

Alonso, the champion in 2005 and 2006 for Renault before departing for an inglorious season with McLaren last year, has yet to agree a deal for next season, but is likely to stay with the French team.

Brazil’s Nelson Piquet was fourth in the second Renault, ahead of Italian Jarno Trulli of Toyota and the Toro Rosso of Germany’s Sebastian Vettel. Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais was hit with a 25 second penalty after the race for running Massa off the track, relegating him to 10th from sixth.

That was good news for Massa, who was bumped up to seventh from eighth.

Championship leader Hamilton failed to score a point for McLaren after a poor start from pole position and some impetuous moves which cost him dearly.

These saw him overrun the first corner and go off the track together with Raikkonen, who outpaced him off the grid at the start, and he was later hit by Massa’s Ferrari as he attempted to pass him. Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty for his part in the first corner melee and Massa was given the same punishment for ramming Hamilton into a spin in the second incident. Hamilton eventually finished 12th.

“I didn’t hit anything, but he did,” Hamilton said of the incidents. “But that’s the way it goes.”

Massa also struggled through a day of collisions, errors and penalties on his way to finishing seventh to claim two points. That reduced Hamilton’s championship lead to five points with two races left in China and Brazil. Hamilton has 84 points and Massa 79.

“On a day like this you have to hold your hands up and say you made a mistake,” Hamilton said. “That is what I did and I paid for it. Now I have to keep my head up and just keep going. I don’t think it has had any effect on the championship, so for me it has been a damage limitation day. I am focusing on winning the next two races now.”
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