Alonso makes the most of 'miracle'

Singapore Grand Prix:UNDER THE lights of Formula One's first night race, Fernando Alonso's season lit up with spectacular brilliance in a thrilling race which 24 hours earlier the Spaniard said "he'd need a miracle to win".

It's been more than a year since the double world champion last climbed on to the top step of the podium, a year in which he battled with his old team, McLaren, warred with old team-mate Lewis Hamilton, lost a championship, went back to his spiritual home at Renault and slid towards mid-grid anonymity. But something about this newest of races seemed to awaken Alonso. True, he has been dragging Renault forwards since mid-season but here he seemed to hook it together with a weekend-long display that mirrored the Alonso of two years ago. Ultra-aggressive, imperious, but always controlled.

Quickest in practice on Friday, quickest on Saturday morning, under the glare of the halogen, Alonso looked like he was ready to shine once more. Then in the second session of qualifying, it all went dark. On his first flying lap, his car slowed and ground to a halt in an escape road. He punched the air in frustration. By the close of the session he was 15th on the grid. On a narrow street circuit, there seemed nowhere to go.

"We had a real chance to do something special," he lamented. "Perhaps not pole position, but to at least qualify in the top four. Starting in the middle of the pack will make for a difficult race, and I will need a miracle with the strategy to be able to make progress on this street circuit."

The miracle arrived, courtesy of his own team-mate, Nelson Piquet. The race had started in uniform fashion. Pole-sitter Felipe Massa guided his Ferrari through turn one, pursued by the second-placed McLaren of Lewis Hamilton and the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. The pattern was set. Massa drew away from Hamilton, the Briton clung on and after initially being left behind, Raikkonen settled into his first stint and began to narrow the gap to the front pair. It looked like Valencia all over again, another new street circuit that had promised much but delivered only a lights to flag Massa win.

But then on lap 14 Piquet lit the blue-touch paper and the race ignited. The Brazilian crashed heavily, wrecking the side and rear of his car and the safety car came out. Alonso, on an aggressive strategy, had started on soft tyres and light fuel load and had made his first pit stop two laps earlier, taking on harder tyres and fuelling for a long second stint. The smash played right into his hands.

The safety car period played havoc with the order; several drivers, such Red Bull's David Coulthard benefiting by pitting before the pitlane closed. Others, though, lost out, Williams' Nico Rosberg and BMW's Robert Kubica being forced to stop while the pitlane was closed because of low fuel loads, the duo incurring 10-second stop-go penalties.

Leader Massa, meanwhile was able to bide his time and come in for fuel and tyres when the pitlane reopened. The result was disastrous, though, as for the second time this season, Ferrari's new pit control lights failed to work properly. The system designed to replace the traditional lollipop, which is lowered on entry and only raised when the crewman holding it feels confident the rest of the crew has finished their work. The lights, which switch from red to green were believed to save fractions of a second but in Valencia, the system failed and Massa was there released too early, earning the Brazilian a €7,000 fine.

Last night, it was worse. As the last of the fuel went into Massa's car, the lights showed green and Massa, watching those alone, pulled away, skittering down pitlane with the fuel hose attached to his car and crew members scattered like skittles. In doing so he also pulled out in front of Adrian Sutil, just as he had done in Valencia. This time, as well as the time lost while the crew removed the hose, he was hit with a drive-through penalty which dropped him to last.

The chaos propelled Alonso forward and suddenly he was in the top five, with Rosberg first, the still-to-pit Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella second and third and Kubica in front of him. Two to pit and two to serve penalties. By the time those tasks were out of the way Alonso led. Over the pit-to-car radio the Spaniard asked for the order and how it had happened only to be told they were as clueless. He would simply have "to push, push".

And push he did. It was a lead he refused to surrender, despite a second late-race safety car period, brought about when Massa, running down the field, had a spin on the entry to the tunnel that runs under one of the Singapore circuit's vast grandstands.

The Brazilian righted himself but as he did so, Sutil understeered into the wall, possibly to avoid hitting Massa who was rejoining the circuit. Whatever the reason, error or judgment call to avoid colliding with the Brazilian, the pair seemed destined to come to blows at some point. The safety car erased the 19-second gap Alonso had built up over Rosberg and third-placed Hamilton, who had fought his way back up the order from seventh after Piquet's crash and his first stop.

As the cars snaked around nose-to-tail behind the safety car, and Hamilton threatening, it looked like Alonso's miracle was going to be denied, but when the pace car pulled away, Rosberg blocked Hamilton and Alonso surged away, opening a six-second lead in the closing laps before cruising home to his first win since last year's Italian GP.

"Fantastic," Alonso admitted afterwards. "First podium of the season and first victory . . . We were competitive from Friday. I was unlucky in qualifying, we started from the back and the first safety car helped me a lot and I was able to win the race."

He added the strategic miracle he had wished for after qualifying had worked perfectly during the race. "We choose to do a very aggressive first stint because we knew starting 15th you cannot overtake anyone here," he said.

Rosberg followed the Spaniard home in the recently uncompetitive Williams to claim his second podium of the year, six months after finishing third in Australia.

Hamilton could be satisfied with his third place, especially as Massa limped home a desultory 13th. Hamilton is in control of the championship, seven clear of Massa.

Singapore Grand Prix

1 Fernando Alonso (Spn) Renault 1hr 57min 16.304 secs

2 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota +00:02.957secs

3 Lewis Hamilton (Brit) McLaren 00:05.917

4 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 00:08.155

5 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 00:10.268

6 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 00:11.101

7 David Coulthard (Brit) RedBull-Renault 00:16.387

8 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 00:18.489

9 Jenson Button (Brit) Honda 00:19.885

10 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 00:26.902

11 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 00:27.975

12 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 00:29.432

13 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 00:35.170

14 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 00:43.571

ret Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari +4 laps

ret Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 11 laps

ret Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 12 laps

ret Mark Webber (Aus) RedBull-Renault 32 laps

ret Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 47 laps

ret Nelson Piquet (Bra) Renault 48 laps

Constructors standings

1 McLaren-Mercedes 135pts

2 Ferrari 134

3 BMW Sauber 120

4 Renault 51

5 Toyota 46

6 Toro Rosso - Ferrari 31

7 RedBull - Renault 28

8 Williams - Toyota 26

9 Honda 14

10 Force India-Ferrari 0

11 Super Aguri-Honda 0

Remaining races

October 12th Japanese GP

October 19th Chinese GP

November 2nd Brazilian GP

Drivers standings

1 Lewis Hamilton (Brit) McLaren 84pts

2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 77

3 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 64

4 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 57

5 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 56

6 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 51

7 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 38

8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso 27

9 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 26

10 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 20