Alonso Survives Late Scare to Clinch Podium Place

Fernando Alonso survived a last moment scare to clinch his third podium finish of the season at today's German Grand Prix.

The Renault driver, strong all throughout the race, began to struggle for pace during the final stint and for a moment it seemed as if McLaren's David Coulthard was set to take third place away from him.

In the end, however, the problems disappeared and Alonso came home safely.

"I don't know what happened to the car during the final stint: at first, I thought it was problem with the front wing, then the suspension, but whatever the cause, the result was obvious: I just had no front grip at all," explained Alonso after the race.

"I radioed to the team that I was coming in to the pits, but they told me to stay out. Then, I ran over one of the kerbs and everything went back to normal: there must have been some debris lodged somewhere.

Renault's young Spaniard Alonso was third after a wheel-to-wheel battle with BAR's Jenson Button ended with the Briton squeezing past 13 laps from the finish.

"Before those incidents, it had been a good race: I got one of the best starts of my career, and then I had a big battle with Jenson," he added. "We are both aggressive drivers, and we had fun I think - it was entertaining to have battle like that on the circuit. In the end, I think it was a good race for us."

Italian Jarno Trulli, who had earlier confirmed he was leaving Renault at the end of the season, had a nightmare afternoon and had team boss Flavio Briatore shaking his head as both Webber and Sato passed him. He finished 11th.

"I had a strong race but just like with Fernando's car, I hit debris that caught on the car: unfortunately, it happened earlier in the race when other competitors were much closer," Trulli said. "I lost front grip, the car was under-steering and would not turn in to the corners.

"Then, we changed the nose and front wing, and everything was OK again. It is a real shame, because I had demonstrated at the start of the race that my car was very quick today."