The Hindu : Sport : Alonso ends Renault's drought in French GP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 04, 2005

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Alonso ends Renault's drought in French GP

MAGNY-COURS (France): Formula One World championship leader Fernando Alonso became the first Renault driver since Alain Prost in 1983 to win the French Grand Prix here on Sunday. And it came when there was no French driver in the field; the first time in 40 years. The Renault driver, who has now won five of the season's 10 races, recorded his sixth career win.

The Spaniard beat Kimi Raikkonen in a McLaren while reigning champion Michael Schumacher was third in a Ferrari.

Alonso drove a perfectly-controlled race from pole position to chequered flag to win. It was his fifth win of the season and came after two disappointing and pointless races in north America, boosting his title hopes and delivering joy and celebrations to the many Renault fans and workers in a crowd of 80,000 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.

"The car performed extremely well again in the race," Alonso said. "It was competitive from the first lap. I saw Jarno (Trulli) going down a bit, so I pushed a little bit more until the gap was nice, and we controlled the race a little bit more."

Consolidates

Starting from the fifth position of his career, Alonso, 23, scored his sixth career win in his 60th race to consolidate his position as favourite to lift the drivers' crown. He now has 69 points, 24 more than his nearest challenger Raikkonen.

Raikkonen's drive was the most startling of the afternoon, however, as he started the race from 13th on the grid and stormed through the field to collect eight points.

It was also a great result for tyre supplier Michelin after its part in the fiasco at Indianapolis two weeks earlier.

Briton Jenson Button, in a BAR, was fourth, Italian Jarno Trulli fifth for Toyota, and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella sixth in the second Renault. Ralf Schumacher finished seventh for Toyota and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve collected the final single point in eighth place for Sauber.

On a hot afternoon in southern Burgundy, where the air temperature hovered around 31 degrees Celsius and the track at 52, the race began without incident.

As the lights turned green, Alonso pulled away in his Renault to lead ahead of Italian Jarno Trulli in his Toyota with Michael Schumacher third in his Ferrari.

The defending world champion's teammate, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, moved up to fourth ahead of Japanese Takuma Sato in his BAR as the field swept through the opening corner.

The order changed little as the early laps unfolded with the only incident of note being the retirement of Austrian Christian Klien in a Red Bull after only two laps while Alonso, driving with relentless precision and concentration, pulled clear at the front.

By the time of the first round of pit-stops after 15 laps, the leading order was unchanged with the Spaniard ahead of Trulli by almost 30 seconds, a remarkable advantage after such a brief stint of racing.

Last to refuel

Alonso was one of the last men to refuel, taking to his Renault team's pits after 20 laps, but emerging in front of a reshuffled field which saw Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya running in second place, until he pitted after 25 laps, ahead of his McLaren team-mate Raikkonen.

Raikkonen ran on to the 28th lap before he pitted.

The pace of the McLarens was apparent and it produced improved positions in the middle part of the race when they ran second and third behind Alonso, forcing Michael Schumacher to pit for a second time after 34 laps in search of a tactical advantage.

Barrichello also pitted for a second time ahead of his rivals, after 40 of the 70 laps, by when Alonso was 34 seconds clear and flying away ahead of the fast Raikkonen and Montoya.

Schumacher was running fourth, Trulli fifth and Button sixth for BAR at that stage, but it seemed no-one could touch Alonso as he raced towards a more commanding lead in the drivers' title race.

As the rest of the second round of pit-stops took place, the field became more stretched, Alonso lapping all but the top seven of the 15 surviving runners.

The retired total claimed Montoya on lap 47 when after running slowly, he pulled off.

Schumacher's chance

This let Schumacher through to third behind the fast front runners, Alonso and Raikkonen, with Fisichella up to fourth in the second Renault. Button rose to fifth ahead of Trulli, a struggling Barrichello and Villeneuve.

Schumacher, driving in rapid stints, came in for a third pit-stop after 51 laps and emerged still ahead of Fisichella on the track, but only just. The Italian pushed hard to find a way past the seven-times champion who, in turn, was a full 57 seconds behind second-placed Raikkonen at that stage.

The threat from Fisichella evaporated after 59 laps when he pitted for a third time and stalled his engine, leaving Schumacher with a clear grasp on third place.

Fisichella's error also gifted Button his chance to take fourth place ahead of Trulli with the disappointed Italian, in his Renault falling back to sixth. The blue-and-yellow dressed fans were at least able to enjoy the sight of Alonso cruising clear to victory.

Narain finishes 15th

Narain Karthikeyan brought up the rear as he finished 15th. The Indian rookie driver racing for Jordan, who went into the race trying to make use of his track familiarity, finished last four laps behind Alonso and two places behind teammate Tiago Monteiro of Portugal. — Agencies

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