Alonso says 'lucky' win was deserved

The Spaniard had started from 15th position after being hit by mechanical problems on Saturday, and the Renault driver claimed all his chances of a good result were gone.

His luck, however, changed completely when a safety car period took place right after he had made his first pitstop, something that allowed Alonso to move into the best position to win the race.

The victory came over a year after his last one in Italy and it was also Renault's first since the 2006 season, also scored by Alonso.

"Fantastic," said the Spaniard, who scored his 20th F1 win today. "First podium of the season and first victory. I am extremely happy. I cannot believe it right now, I need a couple of days to realise we won a race this year.

"Unlucky yesterday and maybe lucky today. It seemed impossible all through the season to be closer to the top guys. We were competitive from Friday. I was unlucky in qualifying, we started from the back and the first safety car helped me a lot and I was able to win the race.

"We choose to do an very aggressive first stint because we knew starting 15th you cannot overtake anyone here. We thought about a one-stop strategy but had some concerns with the brakes so we thought one stop was not possible, so we tried to something different."

Alonso, who is yet to announce where he will drive next season, said Renault's victory was deserved after a tough start to the year.

"It was great weekend for all of us," he said. "A brilliant weekend for F1 with the first night race. We had a new challenge in front of us and we will be part of history.

"The spirit was good and for us at Renault we had tough, tough 2008 championship and were fighting for fourth, but this victory is well deserved.

"The guys worked extremely hard through the season. We started one second behind BMW and now we have the same pace as them if not better.

"We will keep pushing in the last three races and next year more."