Motor Sport Formula One Championship: In the end it was all so simple. There were safety cars, strange ex-machina intrusions, an accident even before the lights went out to signal the start of the race, but once the smoke cleared, the season-ending clash between Renault and McLaren, the battle that had defined the drivers' championship, was decided with the minimum fuss.

Fernando Alonso, the 24-year-old Spaniard who had become the sport's youngest ever champion in Brazil three weeks ago, led from lights to flag to claim the constuctors' title for his Renault squad at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

It shouldn't have been so easy. McLaren have had a faster car for the last four months. While their tally of wins has climbed into double figures, Renault's and Alonso's had dried up in Germany in July. Since Alonso had claimed a fortunate win at the Hockenheim he had not troubled the top step of the podium. It had been about a fight for survival.

In Brazil he had done all he needed to do, in finishing third, to claim his drivers' crown. The question was, when it came down to a team-based clash, involving Alonso's team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella and McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya, whether Renault were made of the same stern stuff.

A week ago in Japan it had appeared not. Fisichella was within a lap of victory when he was overwhelmed at the first corner of his last tour by Raikkonen, bringing McLaren to within two points of Renault in the battle for the manufacturers' crown. The betting in Shanghai was that something similar would occur, leaving the teams honours even with a title apiece.

There was drama before the start as the cars left the pits to take their places on the grid. Michael Schumacher performed a lazy left turn in the middle of the track unaware Minardi's Christijan Albers was arrowing towards him at full title. Cue a massive accident that left both cars wrecked and Schumacher running back to the pits to take to his spare car.

It wasn't the only bizarre event of the afternoon but the second would have a direct bearing on the outcome of the championship. Eighteen laps in, after pole-sitter Alonso and Fisichella had held their one-two spots at the start, the McLaren of Juan Pablo Montoya, in fourth place, suddenly pitched sideways, with no apparent cause. The Colombian dived for the pits and the safety car quickly emerged as the reason for his violent move became apparent. A drain lid had kicked up and Montoya had clouted the metal cover at high speed, damaging his front right.

He took repairs and rejoined the race, dropped to the tail end and with team boss Ron Dennis shaking his head on the pit wall, realising the task to finishing ahead of the two Renaults was now gargantuan. It became impossible seven laps later, when Montoya, struggling with suspension damaged in the incident, was forced to stop. McLaren's chances in ruins. Alonso ploughed on.

But the lead he had carved out was soon erased as on lap 30 Jordan's Narain Karthikeyan went wide at turn 13 and smashed into the tyre wall, his car spinning back out onto the track and bursting into flames. The safety car came out and the field closed up behind it and the race leader.

In the second round of stops Alonso held his lead but McLaren managed to get Raikkonen ahead of Fisichella but with Toyota's Ralf Schumacher, Sauber's Felipe Massa and Red Bull's Christian Klien staying on track, Alonso had a cushion of slower cars between him and Raikkonen and he was able to carve out a healthy gap as a frustrated Raikkonen was held up by the trio who would pit late enough to ruin the Finn's chances of catching Alonso. By the time he regained second position he was 9.4 seconds adrift with 10 laps to go. The fight was over.

Even when third-placed Fisichella was dropped back a place behind Ralf Schumacher via a drive-through penalty imposed for impeding Raikkonen in the pit lane entry, it was still enough points for Renault to comfortably take the constructors' title, nine points ahead of McLaren.

Chinese Grand Prix

Shanghai, China 56 Laps:

1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1hr 39mins 53.618secs

2 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 1:39:57.633

3 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:40:18.994

4 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault1:40:19.732

5 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1:40:25.457

6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber 1:40:30.018

ALSO: 7 M Webber (Aus) Williams 1:40:30.460, 8 J Button (Brit) BAR 1:40:34.867, 9 D Coulthard (Brit) Red Bull 1:40:37.865, 10 J Villeneuve (Can) Sauber 1:40:53.595, 11 T Monteiro (Por) Jordan 1:41:18.266, 12 R Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:41:26.430, 13 Rt Doornbos (Ned) Minardi at 1 lap, 14 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota at 1 lap. Not classified: 15 A Pizzonia (Bra) Williams 55 laps completed, 16 C Albers (Ned) Minardi 51, 17 T Sato (Jpn) BAR 44, 18 N Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan 38, 19 J Montoya (Col) McLaren 24, 20 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 22.

FINAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: Drivers' Championship: 1 F Alonso (Spa) Renault 133pts, 2 K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 112, 3 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 62, 4 J Montoya (Col) McLaren 60, 5 G Fisichella (Ita) Renault 58, 6 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 45. Manufacturers' Championship: 1 Renault 191pts, 2 McLaren 182, 3 Ferrari 100 4 Toyota 88, 5 Williams 66, 6 BAR 38, 7 Red Bull 34, 8 Sauber 20, 9 Jordan 12, 10 Minardi 7.