Fernando Alonso resisted huge pressure from rampant defending world drivers champion Michael Schumacher to seize a thrilling victory and complete a Formula One hat-trick in Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix.
The young Spaniard, showing the verve and calm temperament of a future champion himself, steered his Renault to a third straight win to confirm his early-season leadership of this year’s title race on Ferrari’s home soil.
Despite raucous and emotional support for their beloved scarlet scuderia, the Imola tifosi were unable to help seven-time champion Schumacher seize victory after a disappointing start to the season and he had to be content with roaring home second just a split second behind Alonso.
It was a thrilling and close finish and demonstrated that this year’s battle for global supremacy is likely to see a fabulous battle between the wounded German world champion and the raging young pretender.
”That was one of the best, if not the best, fighting finish to any race in my life,” said Alonso.
”I knew Michael was at least one second a lap faster than me in the closing laps and I had to keep him behind me. My only chance to do that was to hold him up mid-way into the corners and then pull away.
”I had to push hard for the straights early then and it was a tactic that worked well. He was very close to me in two or three corners and I held on and in the end it was okay. I never thought of giving up and letting him through so I could settle for second place. Never.”
Schumacher, who started 13th on the grid, produced an epic race that thrilled the huge crowd packed into the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.
He said: ”I don’t know if I should be happy or disappointed. Of course, I am glad for the team that we have shown we have a fast car and we have, at last, taken some points and finished second.
That is good.
”But this only shows that if I had not had my problems in qualifying this morning, well, who knows what we might have done?
”Really, I have to be delighted for the whole team. They have worked so hard for us to turn this around, especially our tyre suppliers Bridgestone who have had so much bad publicity this year.”
Alonso, the championship leader, was handed the lead when Finn Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren expired early.
Schumacher, who suffered a disastrous start to the season with two points from the first three races, was back on the pace in his new Ferrari F2005 machine and set up a thrilling fight to the finish.
He started from 13th on the grid after a mistake in qualifying, but Ferrari’s strategy of a long first stint coupled with incredible pace in the middle of the race allowed him to storm up to second by the finish.
Briton Jenson Button could do nothing to hold off the flying German, but he was still satisfied to finally reach the end of a race and displayed his team’s return to form with a satisfying podium finish in third.
Austrian Alex Wurz, who was called up to replace the injured Juan Pablo Montoya this weekend, coped with the pressure of his first race in four-and-a-half years and just missed out on a podium place when he came in fourth in the second McLaren.
Wurz, who usually tests away from the limelight, showed he has lost none of his racing talent as he worked his way up from seventh on the grid and held off a charging Takuma Sato, who had to settle for fifth.
Italian Jarno Trulli, of Toyota, had finished second in the last two races, but could not stay on the pace in the cooler conditions and had to settle for seventh place behind Jacques Villeneuve.
There were finally smiles at Sauber for Villeneuve when the under-pressure Canadian held things together to score his first points for the team in sixth.
Ralf Schumacher came in eighth but picked up a 25 second penalty for what race stewards considered an unsafe manoeuvre involving Nick Heidfeld’s Williams.
As a consequence Heidfeld moved up to eighth, but Schumacher’s team Toyota announced they planned to lodge an appeal.
Alonso now heads to his home race, the Spanish Grand Prix, at Barcelona in two weeks time as the man in charge of the title race, while Ferrari, still recovering from a poor start, have shown they are on the way back. – Sapa-AFP