Alonso challenge melts in the rain

Formula One/ Japanese Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton's lead in the drivers' championship looks insurmountable, writes Justin Hynes.

Fernando Alonso yesterday admitted he needs a miracle if he is to win the Formula One drivers' championship after he was forced to watch from the sidelines as his arch-rival Lewis Hamilton scored a crucial win at a chaotic Japanese Grand Prix.

In a race both marred and made by torrential rain, Alonso spun out and crashed heavily 27 laps from the end while pursuing his McLaren team-mate Hamilton for the lead.

Hamilton, who had led from a start conducted behind the safety car because of the bad weather, almost crashed out himself when BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica smashed into him early on but survived the incident to battle through treacherous conditions to take the chequered flag and establish a 12-point title lead over Alonso with two races to go.

"I was very fortunate that I finished," said Hamilton afterwards. "It was the longest race probably of my life. It just seemed to go on and on."

Alonso, who had trailed his rookie team-mate throughout a weekend hampered by inclement weather at the speedway beside Japan's iconic Mount Fuji, was left to all but concede defeat in the race for the drivers' crown.

"I'm not throwing in the towel, but unless there is a retirement from Hamilton we have to be realistic and see that it's very hard to recover six points per race," said Alonso.

In the early stages of the race there was little indication of the chaos to come as, in torrential rain, the race was started tamely behind the safety car.

For 19 bemusing laps the cars trundled around in almost zero visibility and amid speculation that the event would have to be abandoned.

However, almost as soon as the monitors flashed the message that the safety car would pull in the chaos began.

Into the first corner, Hamilton and Alonso feinted and dived as each tried to gain some kind of advantage in the almost blind conditions.

Somehow both barrelled through unscathed but the safety car was soon back in action as behind the pair the chaos began with Alex Wurz becoming the first casualty, spinning out and losing the front end of his car.

Ferrari too were in trouble. After Kimi Raikkonen's dominant win in Belgium two weeks ago, the Finn and his team-mate, Felipe Massa, endured a torrid opening phase to their race.

The team had opted to start the race with regular wet-weather tyres in a calculated gamble against the dreadful weather but were informed after the race start of an FIA ruling that all teams had been directed to start on extreme-weather tyres because of the dangerous conditions.

Both Raikkonen and Massa were forced to change tyres almost immediately and dropped to the back of the field, their races apparently ruined. But the constant rain was causing havoc farther ahead.

A volatile race order saw drivers regularly swap places as mistakes were frequent.

Such errors included a crash involving Alonso and Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel, which left the Spaniard's car heavily damaged yet driveable.

It was during this period that Vettel suddenly took the lead of the race. The German rookie, driving for arguably the grid's worst team, briefly looked like he might win the chaotic race.

But then came Alonso's wreck and Vettel's only stop and suddenly Hamilton was in the driving seat again. He didn't let the opportunity slip.

Vettel dropped to third with Mark Webber from sister team Red Bull Racing in front.

A bright end to a miserable day looked in prospect for Red Bull. But ahead Hamilton braked hard into a corner and 20-year-old Vettel reacted too late, slamming into the back of Webber and ending both teams' hopes of an unlikely podium finish.

That left the other podium places to Renault's own rookie Heikki Kovalainen and, surprise, surprise, Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finn, looking more comfortable than any other driver in the atrocious conditions, had sliced his way from the back to the podium finish in double-quick time and, in the last minutes of the race, pressed Kovalainen hard.

His fellow Finn is made of stern stuff though and resisted to claim Renault's first podium of the season.

Red Bull Racing's honour was restored by the veteran David Coulthard, who took a brave fourth place ahead of Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella and Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

And so Hamilton puts one hand firmly on the title. He now sits on 107 points, 12 ahead of Alonso. If the rookie wins in China next week the title is his no matter what.

Alonso was still clinging to faint hope as the darkness closed in around Mount Fuji.

"It means winning the two remaining races and expect him to finish fifth or sixth," he said. "So realistically it's very complicated and we'll need a retirement from him and he hasn't had any this year, but maybe it will come in the last two races.

"We have to try doing the maximum and try to win both races, now more than ever, and maybe even with less pressure because we only need to race and wait for a miracle, a retirement from our rival, so maybe I can race more relaxed now."

RESULT

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 2 hrs 00 mins 34.579"

2. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault +00:08.377

3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 00:09.478

4. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull - Renault 00:20.297

5. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 00:38.864

6. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 00:49.042

7. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 00:49.285

8. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Spyker - Ferrari 01:00.129

9. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 01:20.622

10. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 01:28.342

11r. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1 lap; 12. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) Spyker - Ferrari 1 lap; 13. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1 lap; 14r. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 2 laps; 15r. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda 2 laps r. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 12 laps r. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri - Honda 13 laps r. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 18 laps r. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 21 laps r. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 22 laps r. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 26 laps r. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams - Toyota 48 laps.

(r = retired)

Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton, 1:28.193, lap 27.

Drivers Points

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 107

2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 95

3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 90

4. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 80

5. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 56

6. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 35

7. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault 30

8. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 21

9. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams 15

10. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams 13

11. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 13

12. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 10

13. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 7

14. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 5

15. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri 4

16. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 2

17. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Spyker 1

18. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso 1

Constructors

1. Ferrari 170 points

2. BMW Sauber 92

3. Renault 51

4. Williams - Toyota 28

5. RedBull - Renault 23

6. Toyota 12

7. Super Aguri - Honda 4

8. Honda 2

9. Spyker - Ferrari 1

* McLaren stripped of all constructors' points in a spying controversy involving Ferrari information.