MOTORSPORT/Spanish Grand Prix: Since the start of this season, McLaren have been trying to convince anyone who would listen that this year they have built themselves a car capable of reclaiming glory days last enjoyed by the team six years ago courtesy of Mika Hakkinen. Until yesterday, the pleas fell on deaf ears

Hardly surprising. The team limped through the season-opener, insisted they would bounce back in Malaysia, only to slide farther behind the leading pack, and were largely anonymous in Bahrain and Imola.

Off track too, controversy raged. New signing Juan Pablo Montoya was ruled out for two races with a cracked shoulder apparently sustained while playing tennis but allegedly received during a too-vigorous workout on a motocross bike. Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen too was troubled, dogged by tabloid rumours of too much partying and too little focus on the job in hand - restoring the ethos of victory instilled in the team by Hakkinen.

Yesterday though his successor and compatriot Raikkonen screamed McLaren's arrival in this year's championship with a searing lights-to-flag win at the Spanish Grand Prix.

This race should have been all about Fernando Alonso. The championship leader arrived in his homeland on the back of three consecutive wins and a 16-point lead in the driver's standings over Toyota's Jarno Trulli.

All weekend Alonso had been besieged, barrelling through the paddock and the frantic throng surrounding him, flanked by security guards and shepherded from motorhome to motorcade in a frenzy of waved hands and barked commands.

The only relief came yesterday when he eventually climbed into his Renault, a few short metres behind pole-sitter Raikkonen.

In qualifying, Raikkonen had blazed to that pole position, leaving behind him the suspicion of a low-fuel start and a short run to his first pit stop. The impression persisted in the wake of a clean start as Raikkonen left Alonso for dead in the opening laps, carving out a 10-second advantage after just 14 laps.

A low-fuelled Mark Webber steered his Williams toward pitlane on lap 18 and the expectation was that Raikkonen would soon follow. But the Finn calmly steered his McLaren past the pit entrance and on the way to a seven-lap run to the end of his fuel load that saw him increase his gap on Alonso to 25 seconds.

And even before the question of just when Alonso would make his first stop was framed the Spaniard was spearing his Renault toward his team's garage. Raikkonen emerged with his lead intact, leaving the championship leader with a cruise to second place and eight more valuable points.

"To get another eight points in the pocket is a fantastic result for me and the team," said Alonso. "It's good for Monaco, where we will be among the last to qualify, which is so important at that circuit. Five races and five podiums is great and something I never expected and I hope it can continue."

It shouldn't have been so secure a finish for Alonso. For the bulk of the race he was haunted by the rapidly closing spectre of Michael Schumacher and a fight similar to the kind of nip-and-tuck contest the pair had enjoyed in Imola a fortnight ago.

Indeed, Schumacher had pursued an almost identical strategy to that chosen for the San Marino round - heavy fuel, the possibility of a single stop and a mid-race charge on low fuel to catapult him from his seventh-place start to a possible podium.

And until lap 47 the plan was working with the same efficacy as in the previous race. But then came a double disaster for the defending champion.

First, as he headed for the final corner the German's left-rear tyre blew, leaving him a short run to the pits for a replacement. He emerged with some chance of a revival but within a minute those hopes were dashed as he suffered a second blow-out, this time to the front left and this time on the run to turn one, leaving him a full, crippled tour of the track before he could find aid in the pitlane.

It was too much and the German tip-toed back to the pits and pulled into the garage to retire, a replacement being judged not as much value as the possibility of a new engine for Monaco.

"I can guess that I may have picked up some debris from the circuit although I didn't see any, but that's the only explanation as it was so unusual," said Schumacher of the twin punctures.

"We didn't have a problem with tyre wear. Our tyres looked in very good shape. I would have easily been competitive until the end."

Up ahead Alonso and Raikkonen were safe, a 20-plus-second gap separating the pair and a further 20 seconds in hand over Trulli.

An emotional return to the top step for Raikkonen, whose last victory came at Spa last year.

"Sure it's nice, especially when you win," said the Finn. "It's nice but nothing else - it doesn't change my life or anything."

It was Hakkinen-like in its impassivity.

Normal service is finally resumed at McLaren.

1 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren Mercedes1hr 27mins 16.830secs

2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:27:44.482

3 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:28:02.777

4 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:28:03.549

5 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:28:14.766

6 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams BMW 1:28:25.372

7 Juan Montoya (Col) McLaren Mercedes at 1 lap

8 David Coulthard (Brit) Red Bull at 1 lap

9 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari at 1 lap

10 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams BMW at 1 lap

11 Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber Petronas at 3 laps

12 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Jordan Toyota at 3 laps

13 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan Toyota at 3 laps

Not classified: Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber Petronas 51 laps completed, Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 46 laps, Christijan Albers (Ned) Minardi Cosworth 19 laps, Patrick Friesacher (Aut) Minardi Cosworth 11 laps, Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Red Bull 9 laps

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 44pts, 2 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 26, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren Mercedes 17, 4 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 14, 5 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 14, 6 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams BMW 12, 7 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 10, 8 Juan Montoya (Col) McLaren Mercedes 10, 9 David Coulthard (Brit) Red Bull 10, 10 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams BMW 9, 11 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 8, 12 Alexander Wurz (Aut) McLaren Mercedes 6, 13 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber Petronas 5, 14 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren Mercedes 4, 15 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 3, 16 Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber Petronas 2, 17 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Red Bull 1.

MANUFACTURERS' CHAMPIONSHIP: 1 Renault 58pts, 2 Toyota 40, 3 McLaren Mercedes 37, 4 Williams BMW 21, 5 Ferrari 18, 6 Red Bull 14, 7 Sauber Petronas 7.