Formula One:Renault's Fernando Alonso led the British Grand Prix from start to finish today to maintain his vice-like grip on the Formula One championship.
The world champion's first win at Silverstone, one of his
Anglo-French team's home races, was his fifth in eight races and
third in a row.
The 24-year-old Spaniard's lead over Ferrari's Michael
Schumacher, the seven-times champion who finished second ahead of
McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, increased to 23 points with 10 races
remaining.
Alonso has 74 points from a possible 80, with Schumacher on
51 and Raikkonen on 33.
Worryingly for Schumacher, the chances of Alonso's lead
narrowing significantly any time soon looked remote after another
untroubled Sunday stroll in the sunshine for the youngest of
champions.
The Spaniard took the chequered flag a comfortable 13.9
seconds clear with all but the top nine lapped.
Alonso's triumph was his 14th successive appearance on the
podium and, when he has not won this season, he has finished
second.
Team mate Giancarlo Fisichella finished fourth, increasing
Renault's lead over Ferrari in the constructors' championship.
Brazilian Felipe Massa was fifth for Ferrari ahead of
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, last year's winner for McLaren.
BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld took seventh place ahead of
Canadian team mate Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion who
won at Silverstone in 1996 and in his title year.
Alonso, on pole position for the fourth race in a row, led the
field through the first corner and controlled the race through to
the chequered flag.
Raikkonen and Schumacher followed closely to the first
pitstop when they lost ground and the 37-year-old German then got
ahead of the Finn after the second stop for tyres and fuel.
Schumacher's brother Ralf had less to smile about, his race
over before he had even completed a lap.
Toro Rosso's American rookie Scott Speed nudged Ralf's
slow-starting Toyota and the German then steered across the track,
hitting Australian Mark Webber's Williams broadside and shunting
both out of the race.
Stewards said they would investigate the incident.
Briton Jenson Button's miserable home weekend fizzled out
after 10 laps when he pulled over as flames flared from his car's
Honda engine.
The only Englishman in the race had lined up a dismal 19th of
22 starters after what he bluntly described as a qualifying
'balls-up' on Saturday.
"It's massively disappointing. It was going well, the car was
feeling good," said Button. "We deserved a lot more. It's not all
bad luck, though. We need to improve in certain areas."
"I braked going into the corner, saw lots of smoke in the
mirrors and that was it," he added.
Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli also had an afternoon to
forget, finishing 11th and still searching for his first point of
the season.
