Alonso wins Japan GP
Posted
Updated
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso claimed his second victory of the season on Sunday when he drove to a comfortable triumph in a drama-packed Japanese Grand Prix.
The Spaniard took full advantage of incidents and errors that wrecked the day for the leading championship contenders as he steered his Renault to the 21st win of his career, two weeks after his surprise win in Singapore.
Australian Mark Webber finished eighth driving for Red Bull to claim a point in the overall driver's race.
Alonso came home 5.2 seconds clear of second placed Pole Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber with Finn Kimi Raikkonen finishing third for Ferrari at the Fuji Speedway.
Brazilian Nelson Piquet was fourth in the second Renault ahead of Italian Jarno Trulli of Toyota and the two Toro Rossos of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais and German Sebastian Vettel.
But Bourdais was slapped with a 25-second penalty after the race, which dropped him to 10th and elevated Brazilian Felipe Massa to seventh.
Drivers world championship leader Briton Lewis Hamilton failed to score a point for McLaren Mercedes after an incident-filled afternoon following a poor start from pole position.
His championship lead over Massa has been cut to just five points with two Grand Prix left in China and Brazil.
Massa of Ferrari struggled through a day of collisions, errors and penalties on his way to finishing eighth, before being elevated due to the Bourdais penalty.
Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Finn Heikki Kovalainen retired with a blown engine.
-AFP
