Symonds praises Alonso's 'faultless' drive

The 24-year-old World Champion claimed his second victory of the season when he established an early lead and then held off McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen to win by less than two seconds on a dramatic afternoon at Albert Park.

Alonso dominated the race from the start, but four Safety Car periods deleted his advantage.

"A word? Faultless," said Symonds of Alonso's performance. "He could run at the speed he needed to, when he wanted to. The safety car periods cost him and could have spoiled his rhythm, but he managed to establish good leads after each restart."

Alonso's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella endured a difficult day after stalling his car at the start and then being hit by clutch problems. The Italian finished in fifth place following the last-moment retirement of Honda's Jenson Button.

Despite failing to match Alonso's results, Symonds defended Fisichella's performance.

"He had a lot to deal with," Symonds added. "His problems began at the start when the car stalled. The safety car allowed him to close up the field, and he made good progress.

"In the middle of the race, he was complaining of a lot of understeer, but he managed to adjust the car to correct it. The clutch then failed after his second stop.

"On a machine as sophisticated as a modern F1 car, all the systems look to protect the car from this kind of problem until you solve it - which costs performance.

"As soon as we did, Fisi caught Jenson very quickly, and put some pressure on him. On a circuit where overtaking is hard, you then have to hope for a mistake from the guy in front, or that he will push his equipment too hard. That's what happened.

"It's a shame for Jenson, but it was a victory in its own way for Fisico."