Gloves off as Raikkonen comes storming through

Motor Sport Japanese Grand Prix: With the drivers' championship out of the way, the strategic gloves came off in Suzuka yesterday as the constructors' crown took precedence in a devil-may-care free for all which led to one of the season's finest races.

As the season heads towards its close in Shanghai next weekend, Suzuka had an end-of-term feel all weekend, which translated to the grid yesterday as Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, who had toiled under such pressure until Alonso wrapped up the driver's title a fortnight ago in Brazil, were freed to stage a desperate assault - on the part of Raikkonen - and a cautious defence by Alonso. This was aided by a topsy-turvy Saturday qualifying session which left both at the rear of the grid.

As first corner offs for BAR's Takuma Sato and Rubens Barrichello caused confusion, Alonso blasted through, dragging 17th-on-the-grid Raikkonen with him. But moments later progress was halted when McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya tangled with Sauber's Jacques Villeneuve and the Colombian was pitched into the tyre wall, the rear of his car being torn apart on impact.

That left the pack trailing behind the safety car with Alonso and Raikkonen poised to stage another attack.

At the front, however, another Renault, that of Giancarlo Fisichella, had made an inspired start to leave BAR-Honda's Jenson Button standing and slot in behind Ralf Schumacher's Toyota. And when the German made an early pit stop on lap 13, part of a risky and ultimately futile three-stop strategy, Fisichella breezed past .

With only the slower Button and Williams's Mark Webber for company, by the time the Italian's second and final stop came into view he had a 17-second lead over his nearest rivals.

But a different and altogether more dangerous threat was building behind him. Sixteen laps in and Alonso and Raikkonen had closed on the fifth position being filled by Michael Schumacher.

The former champion defended with guts and determination as Alonso attacked repeatedly but on lap 20 the Spaniard made his final move, blasting past Schumacher as the pair went into the daunting flat out 130R corner.

That should have put the champion within touching distance of the lead but as the field made their first stops he was caught out and slipped back to ninth from where he would have to pass Schumacher all over again.

For Raikkonen there were no such troubles. Schumacher kept the Finn at bay for nine laps but eventually Raikkonen got past and set his sights on Fisichella's then 17-second lead on lap 34.

Lapping a second quicker than the Italian after Fisichella had made his second stop the Finn wound up fourth behind Raikkonen with Button and Webber in the first two places.

The BAR and Williams pitted, swapping places, as Raikkonen opened up a nine-second lead before his own stop. It was enough to get him past Button and Webber and into second behind a charging Fisichella.

But the Italian could do nothing about the Finn's relentless pace and had to give way into turn one of the final lap, Raikkonen muscling past to claim his seventh win of the season.

With just one grand prix left on the calendar, Renault are now just two points ahead of McLaren.

Suzuka Details:

1 K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 1hr 29mins 02.212secs, 2 G Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:29:03.845, 3 F Alonso (Spn) Renault 1:29:19.668, 4 M Webber (Aus) Williams 1:29:24.486, 5 J Button (Bri) BAR 1:29:31.719, 6 D Coulthard (Bri) Red Bull 1:29:33.813, 7 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:29:36.091, 8 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:29:51.760, 9 C Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1:29:54.137, 10 F Massa (Bra) Sauber 1:29:59.781, 11 J Villeneuve (Can) Sauber 1:30:00.433, 12 R Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:30:02.845, 13 T Sato (Jpn) BAR at 1 lap, 14 T Monteiro (Por) Jordan at 1 lap, 15 R Doornbos (Ned) Minardi at 2 laps, 16 N Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan at 2 laps, 17 C Albers (Ned) Minardi at 4 laps. Not Classified: 18 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota 9 laps completed, 19 A Pizzonia (Bra) Williams 9 laps completed, 20 J Montoya (Col) McLaren no laps completed.

Drivers' championship: 1 Alonso 123; 2 Raikkonen104; 3 M Schumacher 62; 4 Montoya 60; 5 Fisichella 53; 6 Trulli 43; 7 R Schumacher; 8 Barrichello 38.

Manufacturers' Championship: 1 Renault 176; 2 McLaren 174; 3 Ferrari 100; 4 Toyota 82; 5 Williams 64; 6 BAR 37; 7 Red Bull 30; 8 Sauber 17; 9 Jordan 12; 10 Minardi 7.