Fernando Alonso made it seem normal: head to work, go for a little ride in the country, get back home in plenty of time for dinner.
Except, he was driving at the British Grand Prix at speeds of up to 325kph, racking up another victory in the Formula One championship on Sunday.
”To win in this country, 20 minutes away from my home, it gives me a good feeling and a fantastic day,” Alonso said.
Because of the Soccer World Cup, the race was brought forward an hour, and the 24-year-old Spaniard earned an early commute home to Oxford from the rolling countryside of Silverstone, north of London.
Alonso, Formula One’s youngest world champion, has made the remarkable almost routine.
He’s won the last three races, five this season, and 13 for his career. He has finished on the podium in all eight races this year and 14 straight including last season. He appears to be cruising to another championship.
”We have to keep moving forward, and to place in the top three is a good position for the championship,” Alonso said.
It was his first victory at the 57th British Grand Prix to go along with first-time wins at Monaco and Spain last month. ”Spain and then Monaco, this is another of the classic races that you want to win,” he said.
He led virtually from the start and won easily over Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, who are in the same order in the driver standings. Alonso has 74 points, Schumacher 51 and Raikkonen 33.
Alonso’s Renault, Raikkonen’s McLaren and Schumacher’s Ferrari — the top three in order after qualifying — separated early from the rest of the field early and through the first pit stop. Alonso, pitting four laps later than the other two, increased his lead from three to 10 seconds over Raikkonen by mid-race at 30 laps.
Schumacher made one attempt to pass Raikkonen but couldn’t, although the cars almost touched.
The German overtook Raikkonen on the second pit stop, but he still trailed Alonso by 11 seconds with 15 laps to race.
Raikkonen knew he could not keep up with the Renault and Ferrari once they got past.
”We were not as quick as Alonso and Schumacher and third place was the maximum possible,” Raikkonen said.
Schumacher also believed he was chasing in vain, this time.
”We got stuck in the first part of the race,” he said. ”But we were not quick enough this race and we have to work on that. At the end of the day, we were not good enough for the weekend.”
After Alonso, Schumacher and Raikkonen, the same three teams made up the second three: Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault finished fourth and Felipe Massa’s Ferrari fifth, with 2005 British Grand Prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya of McLaren in sixth.
Schumacher still thinks he can catch Alonso for an eighth world championship.
”There are 10 races to go — plenty of opportunities. We believe in ourselves and will do a lot of work,” Schumacher said. ”Even though I am behind by 23 points, I don’t think the championship is over. The next two races take place on completely different types of circuits. It will be interesting to see who has the upper hand on these circuits.”
The circuit leaves Europe for the rest of the World Cup to the Canadian Grand Prix on June 25 and the United States Grand Prix on July 2.
Alonso and his team are prepared for the challenge. He said he and Renault are still looking to get better. ”We need to improve the car. We need to keep developing and we need to keep winning races. We want to defend our position.” — Sapa-AP