Alonso storms to Canadian GP victory

The world champion started from pole position and led almost every one of the race's 70 laps to win by 2.1 seconds in his Renault.

It was Alonso's 15th consecutive podium finish, the Spaniard also giving Michelin their 100th Grand Prix win.

Michael Schumacher snatched second place on the penultimate lap, overtaking McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen when he ran wide at the hairpin. Raikkonen took third.

Schumacher's result dropped him a further two points to Alonso in the drivers' championship to leave him 25 points behind with only nine races remaining.

Alonso led away at the start, but his Italian teammate Giancarlo Fisichella made a jump-start from the front-row. He still managed to lose second place to Raikkonen though.

Toyota's Jarno Trulli followed through the first few turns, but Schumacher lost one place to his fellow German Nico Rosberg at turn two, and was then shoved onto the grass by Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, dropping to seventh.

But he was promoted two places on the next lap when McLaren driver Montoya tried a late manoeuvre on Rosberg at the same corner, spinning the 20-year-old Williams driver into the wall and out of the race.

Montoya did not escape unharmed as he pitted to allow his mechanics to change his nosecone and check for damage, dropping to the tail of the field.

At almost the same moment, Tiago Monteiro made an optimistic-looking move on his Midland teammate Christijan Albers at the pits hairpin, taking the Dutchman out of the race and returning to the pits himself for a replacement nosecone.

Both incidents caused the race organisers to send out the safety car to allow the mess to be cleared up.

Alonso and Raikkonen streaked ahead on the lap three restart, pulling out a 12-second gap to the rest of the field by lap 10.

Raikkonen, who was looking racy, even tried an overtaking move on the world champion at the end of the main straight on lap 12.

Alonso was wise to the move though, forcing Raikkonen to the outside of his Renault as they reached the breaking zone side-by-side.

Trulli moved up to third when Fisichella served his drive-through penalty on lap 7 and dropped to fifth, behind his compatriot and Michael Schumacher.

Just half a second separated the trio when Schumacher broke the Trulli train with a move around the outside into the final chicane on lap 24.

The final corner was not lucky for Montoya, who hit the infamous 'wall of champions' eight laps earlier while fighting back up the order and retired before the next corner with rear-end damage.

Alonso made his first pitstop on lap 23, losing only one place as Raikkonen took the lead.

By the time Raikkonen emerged from his stop a lap later though, he was over seven seconds behind due to a right-rear wheel nut refusing to go on as it should have.

Schumacher immediately began to close in on the Finn, closing to within a second and a half of him before making his first pitstop on lap 32.

That left the front-runners spaced out, but it did not stop both Alonso and Raikkonen making errors, as Alonso cut across the final chicane on lap 44, and Raikkonen, perhaps sensing a chance of victory, lost three seconds with a grassy excursion at turn one three laps later.

Even seven-time world champion Schumacher proved he is not infallible by getting crossed up and sliding onto the concrete run-off area on the pits hairpin, although he, like the other two, resumed with only a small time loss.

Raikkonen appeared to lose any chance of victory when he stalled at his final pitstop, losing seven seconds.

But his 30-second deficit to Alonso was erased when the safety car was deployed following an accident for home hero Jacques Villeneuve, who crashed his BMW Sauber heavily while attempting to lap Ralf Schumacher's Toyota on lap 60.

Alonso again controlled the field at the re-start and cruised to victory. Behind the podium finishers, fourth went to Fisichella with Brazilian Felipe Massa fifth for Ferrari and Trulli taking his first points of the season in sixth.

Nick Heidfeld and David Coulthard completed the points scorers in their BMW Sauber and Red Bull respectively.

Coulthard's was the result of a great end to the race as he overtook his teammate Christian Klien and his countryman Jenson Button, in a Honda, in the final five laps.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Canadian Grand Prix
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada;
70 laps; 305.270km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  1h34:37.308
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              (B)  +     2.111
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  +     8.813
 4.  Fisichella    Renault              (M)  +    15.679
 5.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +    25.172
 6.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
 7.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (M)  +     1 lap
 8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  +     1 lap
 9.  Button        Honda                (M)  +     1 lap
10.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  +     1 lap
11.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  +     1 lap
12.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth    (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  +    2 laps
14.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota           (B)  +    4 laps
15.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    6 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:15.841

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber           (M)    59
R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)    59
Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes     (M)    14
Barrichello   Honda                (M)    12
Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)    3
Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth    (B)    2
Albers        MF1-Toyota           (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 9:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        84        1.  Renault              121
 2.  M.Schumacher  59        2.  Ferrari               87
 3.  Raikkonen     39        3.  McLaren-Mercedes      65
 4.  Fisichella    37        4.  Honda                 29
 5.  Massa         28        5.  BMW-Sauber            19
 6.  Montoya       26        6.  Toyota                11
 7.  Button        16        7.  Williams-Cosworth     10
 8.  Barrichello   13        8.  Red Bull-Ferrari       9
 9.  Heidfeld      12       
10.  R.Schumacher   8       
11.  Coulthard      8       
12.  Villeneuve     7       
13.  Webber         6       
14.  Rosberg        4       
15.  Trulli         3       
16.  Klien          1       
       
All timing unofficial