Formula One Championship Italian Grand Prix: If there was a perfect moment to make the announcement, it was this one. A victory on home soil, a commanding one. Taking to the top step of the podium above an undulating sea of crimson humanity, Monza exploding in a frenzy of Ferrari devotion. Back down the track, his arch-rival's car a smoking wreck after an engine blow up. The championship deficit shaved to just two points.

It was as if the moment Michael Schumacher chose to announce his retirement from racing had been orchestrated.

Some will say that if it wasn't then it was at least given a helping prod as Fernando Alonso was forced to start from 10th after being accused of blocking Ferrari's Felipe Massa during qualifying on Saturday. Renault and their defending champion were apoplectic, Alonso claiming he could "no longer see F1 as a sport".

Schumacher, lining up second on the grid beside McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, the man who will replace him at Ferrari, kept quiet. If there was the sniff of scandal in the air for Renault, for Schumacher it was the scent of a momentous victory.

And it was a win carved with the greatest ease. Raikkonen, fuelled slightly lighter than Schumacher, was dismissed without fuss during the Ferrari driver's first pit stop. There was no one else in attendance. Raikkonen held on to second, never troubling Schumacher with an attempt to upset the script. Further behind was Robert Kubica, the young Polish driver who took over at BMW-Sauber from another champion recently, Jacques Villeneuve, who had battled for and won the 1997 championship from Schumacher. The old guard is moving on, drivers like Kubica and Raikkonen are, it was being made clear, the future.

Alonso, too, fits that bill. The sport's youngest ever champion had occupied Kubica's third place for a crucial period in the last third of the race, having stormed through the field with his trademark blend of calculated savagery.

But it was all too much for his Renault R26. The effort had exhausted his car's engine and minutes after snatching what should have been the podium spot that brought him one step nearer to title retention, a jet of smoke erupted from the rear of his car and he was forced to swerve wildly into an escape road, eventually trundling to a stop by the fencing on lap 44 of the race.

Third would have earned him eight points and a still reasonable eight-point lead over Schumacher as the championship heads towards its final three rounds in China, Japan and Brazil.

Now, though, the gap between Alonso and Schumacher has been reduced to two points. Only seven men, Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jack Brabham, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher, have ever retained their titles; Alonso does not look like joining that elite band this season.

Afterwards, Alonso was defiant of his championship chances and also critical of the Formula One powers who had, he felt, unjustly compromised his race. "I had to push the engine harder to recover from the grid position," he said.

"I think one per cent of people here will be happy today - those who yesterday decided the race. I hope they sleep well tonight.

"In normal circumstances we are quicker - we were quicker in Hungary and Turkey and we should have won here with the good Michelin tyres, so I think we are fast enough to win," he added.

But it appears that Schumacher could yet have the last word. "A marvellous win in front of our fans," he said. "Being on the podium alongside Jean was an indescribable feeling. From up there, we could see a sea of fans and you could feel the love they have for Ferrari. The most emotional moment was the final lap. After the chequered flag I came on the radio and told all my friends in the team what I was about to announce and it was really difficult to keep my emotions under control. This win is very important in terms of both titles. We have taken the lead in the constructors' and, as for the drivers', we are no longer dependent on our rivals' performance."

With Ferrari now in control of the constructors' title race and Schumacher closing in on the lead of the drivers' competition in the best car currently on the grid, a farewell of epic proportions beckons.

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Drivers: 1 F Alonso (Spa) 108pts, 2 M Schumacher (Ger) 106, 3 F Massa (Bra) 62, 4 K Raikkonen (Fin) 57, 5 G Fisichella (Ita) 57, 6 J Button (Brit) 40, 7 J Montoya (Col) 26, 8 R Barrichello (Bra) 25, 9 N Heidfeld (Ger) 20, 10 R Schumacher (Ger) 18, 11 P de la Rosa (Spa) 14, 12 D Coulthard (Brit) 14, 13 J Trulli (Ita) 12, 14 J Villeneuve (Can) 7, 15 R Kubica (Pol) 6, 16 M Webber (Aus) 6, 17 N Rosberg (Ger) 4, 18 C Klien (Aut) 2, 19 V Liuzzi (Ita) 1

Manufacturers: 1 Ferrari 168pts, 2 Renault 165, 3 McLaren 97, 4 Honda 65, 5 BMW Sauber 33, 6 Toyota 30, 7 Red Bull 16, 8 Williams 10, 9 Scuderia Toro Rosso 1.