Alonso takes the baton

Formula 1/ Brazillian Grand Prix: When Michael Schumacher first stamped his mark on Formula One as one of the all-time greats, it was by becoming the youngest double world champion with his 1995 title win for Benetton.

As the German departed the sport at yesterday's Brazilian Grand Prix, there was something symmetrical in that award being the first to be stripped from him as Fernando Alonso ran an uneventful race to take second place and more than enough points to prevent Schumacher stealing in at the last moment.

Alonso, at 25, had suffered through a turbulent season featuring dubious penalties, a troubled relationship with a team he is now leaving and a tit-for-tat battle of words and wheels with Schumacher which defined the race for the title.

But with victory in Japan a fortnight ago, the Spaniard finally gained the upper hand in a championship which was beginning to slip away. And just as he had done last year, when he took third place to wrap up the title, yesterday he put in a sharply efficient performance to claim second behind local hero Felipe Massa to claim a second title.

In truth, there would have been something Machiavellian about Schumacher taking an eighth world title at Interlagos.

The German's weekend was such a rollercoaster that had he managed to win yesterday and Alonso finish outside the points, allowing Schumacher to take the crown, it would have been impossible not to raise a suspicious eyebrow.

On Saturday, in the final qualifying session, Schumacher had been running quickest when his Ferrari developed a fuel pressure problem. He was sidelined for the remaining minutes and dropped to 10th on the grid, six places behind Alonso, who only needed to finish eighth for a single point to deny Schumacher, no matter what the German achieved in the race.

Indeed, Schumacher had written off his chances of lifting the title even before qualifying had begun, claiming that his only mission was to help Ferrari beat out Renault in the constructors' championship.

His start yesterday gave the lie to that however. As his pole-winning team-mate Felipe Massa held his lead through turn one, followed by McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, Toyota's Jarno Trulli and the Renaults of Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella, Schumacher blasted down the inside to immediately claim the scalps, by turn three, of the twin BMW-Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld. By the end of lap one the German was seventh and closing in on former team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

The move to pass the Brazilian on the pit straight was clinical and effective.

But a puncture on the Ferrari after clipping Fisichella should have spelled the end of Schumacher's charge. After stopping for a replacement wheel and fuel, he rejoined last, the task to clamber to the head of the field impossible.

But Schumacher's 15 years in Formula One are replete with races where the seemingly impossible has been accomplished.

And the result was a race that will prove a fitting final act to a remarkable career. Victory was ultimately beyond him, but the manner of Schumacher's farewell exemplified the dogged determination, razor-sharp aggression and indomitable will that took him to seven championship wins.

He carved effortlessly through the backmarkers, setting fastest lap after fastest lap as he pursued the same glory from the constructors' crown and also a legendary end to a legendary career.

Fifteen laps from the flag, he had climbed to a remarkable sixth, forcing Fisichella to make a mistake into turn one, and was just six seconds adrift of Alonso who had by now claimed second place after passing Kimi Raikkonen during the first round of pit stops. Still it wasn't enough for Schumacher.

Raikkonen, who had been beaten back to fourth by a superb move by Jenson Button at turn one, was ahead, the Finn the man who will replace Schumacher at Ferrari next year. It was time for one last demonstration of his superiority, of his legend.

He muscled past the Finn with a bruising high-speed move that brought the Ferrari crew in pit lane to their feet and the crowd to theirs. It was proof that Schumacher, for all the transgressions that have marred his career, will not be remembered for those, but will be spoken about with reverence for his talent alone, a towering figure, who even when, in his last race, did not finish on the podium and failed to win the constructors' title for Ferrari was still the centre of attention as Brazil got its first home winner since Ayrton Senna in 1993 in the shape of Massa as Alonso was crowned champion for the second year running.

So Schumacher's baton passes to Alonso. He has, at a younger age than the German, already claimed the first of the Ferrari legend's titles. How many more will fall?