Boy racer shows his skill

Hungarian Grand PrixThe journey to the Hungaroring is annually a trip into a nether world of somnolent humidity, processional racing and predictable outcomes. A race where two years ago, over 77 bone-dry laps, just a single overtaking manoeuvre was recorded and that by the midfield Jordan of Jean Alesi.

So, to walk away from the dust-shrouded, tight and twisting confines awash with broken records and the breathless tightness of a championship that becomes ever closer was both unexpected and thrilling.

As the flag fell, Fernando Alonso dipped his Renault towards his crew on the pit wall to celebrate becoming Formula One's youngest race winner, the first from Spain, the first to bring the French manufacturer a win as a team since Alain Prost at the Austrian Grand Prix of 1983. But as he raised an index finger in indication of his pre-eminent status yesterday, behind him the championship was rocketing towards the closest finish in years.

Kimi Raikkonen's eight points thrust the McLaren driver back into championship contention after a startline accident at Hockenheim had threatened to derail his quest for the title. Behind him Juan Pablo Montoya clawed his way through what is likely to be the toughest race of the season's final quarter to take home six points. And an age behind, lapped nine laps earlier by Alonso, Michael Schumacher desperately raced to a single-point finish and desperately clung to a championship lead that has ebbed like sand from an hourglass since he won in Montreal, his last victory of an increasingly frustrating campaign.

Now it has dribbled away to the finest of margins. Montoya, just a point behind the struggling Ferrari driver, goes to Monza in three weeks' time with arguably the best package on the grid. A single point back lurks Raikkonen, his see-sawing season apparently taking an upswing at the crucial time.

But yesterday began and ended with Alonso. Armed with a supremely agile but underpowered car, Renault have consistently struggled at power circuits such as Imola and Montreal. But here, where power is not an issue, the Spaniard and his team-mate Jarno Trulli were always tipped for success. And so it proved, Trulli making the first move with provisional pole in first qualifying. But it was Alonso who took up the baton on Saturday, racing to his second pole of the season and the second of his career.

And yesterday, like the Schumacher of last year, he dominated utterly. From pole, on the clean side of the circuit, he blasted away to open up a massive 15-second gap as the first 10 laps were clicked off. That gap expanded by a further 11 seconds as he maintained the charge through his first two pit stops. Thereafter, the Spaniard, widely tipped as a future champion, was able to back off to take the chequered flag with still some 20 seconds in hand over Raikkonen.

In the cockpit though, all was not as calm as it appeared.

"You know, it's too early for me to feel anything about this win," he said. "It's like a dream. But I have to say, with 10 laps to go, I heard noises from the engine, the gearbox, everything. It was going wrong in my mind. But it was okay.

"The whole weekend was fantastic. The pole position and victory for me - it's a dream come true. I'm 22 and now I have my first win in my pocket so I'm hoping for a lot more in a long career in Formula One."

Those behind Alonso didn't have as easy a time. Those unfortunate enough to have qualified on the dirty side of the track, and that included Montoya, the two Schumachers and Trulli, were forced to watch helplessly as the cars to their left raced away. Montoya dropped to eighth from fourth; his team-mate Ralf Schumacher was squeezed out to sixth and then in turn two was bundled into a spin that dropped him to 18th. His race was characterised by a gritty fight-back to an excellent fourth.

Montoya though was more fortunate, making his three-stop strategy work to perfection. He took out the defending champion in his first stop and then, most impressively, took fifth-placed Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber to go third, the Colombian setting blistering times while the Renault and Jaguar drivers stopped.

The Colombian almost threw it away eight laps from home, spinning his Williams in turn nine, but he was just able to maintain third from his hard-charging team-mate.

McLaren too met the day's strategic demands. Raikkonen aided and abetted the team's cause with relentless determination, starting well on the clean side of the track to claim fourth behind the hapless Rubens Barrichello. But the Brazilian erred as he chased down Mark Webber and Raikkonen and Trulli slipped past. It was the beginning of a bad day for Barrichello, the Ferrari driver suffering a suspension failure on lap 20 that sent him spearing into the tyre wall at turn one. Fortunately Barrichello walked away, though his nebulous title ambitions now look spent.

McLaren pushed Raikkonen ahead of Webber in the first round of stops to take second, but the Finn could do little to dent Alonso's advantage and settled for eight hugely valuable points.

Jordan endured another terrible day. With Ralph Firman ruled out following a massive crash in practice on Saturday, which left him with a bruised bone in his heel and mild concussion, the team put local hero Zsolt Baumgartner into Firman's car.

The Hungarian qualified 19th and raced solidly yesterday until his engine blew on 35. It was the mirror of Giancarlo Fisichella's exit six laps earlier and was the fifth Cosworth engine to fail at Jordan over a disastrous weekend - a weekend not made any easier by the announcement that Fisichella will abandon Jordan next season to join Sauber on a two-year deal.