E-Paper
Alonso is fast and lucky
Fernando Alonso stayed close enough to Kimi Raikkonen during the race as both set a punishing pace. He later capitalised on Raikkonen's tire failure.
Sometimes it helps to be fast and lucky.
Fernando Alonso was both in winning the European Grand Prix Sunday. He stayed close enough to Kimi Raikkonen during the race as both set a punishing pace. Then when a tire failure caused Raikkonen's suspension to break just as the last lap began, Alonso was there to capitalize.
After a fourth-place finish in Monaco last week, his first time outside the top three in 2005, Alonso and his Renault were back on the winning step of the podium.
"We were very lucky today, but we were very strong also," Alonso said after his fifth career victory and fourth of the season. The Formula One season now shifts to North America, with the Canadian Grand Prix on June 12 and the United States Grand Prix a week later.
Alonso holds a huge lead in the standings with 59 points, ahead of Raikkonen and Jarno Trulli with 27 each
"If we keep this consistency every time we will have more and more points," said Alonso, who is bidding to become the youngest driver to win the world title. He turns 24 in July. "We had a very good car in Monaco and we didn't take as many points as we believed were possible. To be probably the best car on the grid again, to manage the tires in the race, is probably better news for the rest of the season _ than to win the race," Alonso said.
It helped when Raikkonen, in command of the race from the start, had tire problems. Leading by five seconds with five laps to go, Raikkonen, in a McLaren-Mercedes, saw his lead shrink lap-by-lap. "The team kept telling me that we were quicker than Kimi, to push him, push McLaren, we had to push them to see if they had a problem," Alonso said. "In the end the team was right and there was a failure with the tire or the suspension."
Raikkonen entered the last lap with a 1.5-second lead when the tire blew out, sending Raikkonen skidding off the track before the first turn.
He said he had a locked tire for the last 20 laps which caused the flat spot. The wheel was barely held on to the car by the tether cord as he hit the wall and bounced over the gravel. "I had a well-balanced car until a flat spot on my right front tire caused terrible vibrations which eventually led to suspension failure," Raikkonen said. "This is just a sad result." Alonso saw everything unfold before him.
"I was just one second behind him so I was worried because there was a lot of debris on the track and I was avoiding the big pieces of the car and the tire and after that I was obviously happy for myself," Alonso said.
Nick Heidfeld was 16.5 seconds behind in a Williams-BMW, his second straight runner-up finish. Rubens Barrichello was in third in a Ferrari, 18.5 seconds back, his first top-three result since the season opener.
David Coulthard finished fourth in a Red Bull and was followed by Michael Schumacher.
Mark Webber, third at the Monaco GP last weekend, became entangled with Ralf Schumacher on the first turn of the race and caused several cars, including both Ferraris, to run into the gravel to avoid them.
Webber was out of the race barely 10 seconds into it. Ralf Schumacher came in for a quick change of his car's nose cone but went out of the race later. Barrichello was lucky to avoid the cars. "The first lap is great for passing," Barrichello said. "But it can be a mess."
For the first time this season there was no Sunday morning qualifying, a session voted out by the teams and the governing body. The starting grid was determined by a one-lap-only qualifying on Saturday.
