Alonso cautious despite dream start

Renault's 24-year-old world champion kept his cool in an incident-packed race to claim his second victory in three races this season and 10th of his career.

Although he finished less than two seconds ahead of McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, Alonso was in such control that he was able to slow down over the concluding laps and tell his engineer how relaxed he felt.

"The car was perfect. We were not in danger of losing the race at any time," the Spaniard told reporters.

"There were no problems at all. There were no fights and I was very relaxed for a lot of the race."

Despite the apparent ease of his win, not everything went Alonso's way and he expected the other teams to be more competitive as the season progresses.

He shot to the lead early when he overtook pole sitter Jenson Button but was unable to open up a big gap over the field because of a series of crashes that forced the safety car onto the track.

"I had a good lead of about 20 seconds after the first two pitstops but I lost it during the second safety car," he said. "However I managed to do a good lap on each re-start and that made life quite easy for me.

"I just needed to make sure I didn't take any unnecessary risks and I am pleased we were able to save the engine performance for the next race."

Renault team boss Flavio Briatore, who is also the Spaniard's manager, said Alonso had driven a brilliant tactical race under the circumstances.

"This was a fantastic win for Fernando," Briatore said. "He had a great car this afternoon and he controlled the race from start to finish.

"There were a lot of complicated situations to deal with and he did it brilliantly."

Alonso's win gave him a 14-point lead over his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella and Raikkonen in the championship but the young Spaniard said he was taking nothing for granted with 15 races still to go, including the next round at Imola.

"Twenty-eight points in the first three races is a dream come true," said Alonso, who is joining McLaren at the end of the season.

"I felt quicker than my rivals...but we are pretty sure that the little advantage we had at the beginning of last season and again in this championship will disappear.

"We have to take our opportunities and win these races now because the other teams will improve and be similar to us or quicker than us.

"So far we have shown were are strong in all conditions on all tracks. But Imola is a very different challenge and we must have a calm approach because we know it will be more difficult than ever."