Motorsport: Alonso holds off red menace

Renault Formula One driver Fernando Alonso (R) and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher spray champagne after the San Marino F1 Grand Prix. Picture / Reuters

Fernando Alonso raised three fingers to the crowd at the end of the San Marino Grand Prix, but it was a gesture born of elation and relief rather than malice.

For the final 12 laps of the race the Renault driver had been stalked by the red menace of his greatest rival, Michael Schumacher.

The champion finally had the right package of car and tyres, and his pace staggered rivals.

Having snatched second place from Jenson Button on the 46th of the 62 laps, Schumacher set after Alonso, his 2005 nemesis. Battle was engaged on the 51st lap. Alonso was nursing a 1.3 second lead after refuelling for the second time on lap 42.

Schumacher had refuelled on the 48th. But he took on a light load that scarcely affected his Ferrari's performance and within a lap Alonso was facing his worst nightmare: the great driver sitting only the twitch of toe on brake pedal from his gearbox.

It is never easy to overtake at Imola, but the Ferrari's tyres had grip to spare, in complete contrast to the previous races.

On the 53rd lap Schumacher nosed alongside in the Piratella corner and Alonso made sure he kept the door closed. At Acque Minerale Schumacher had another look and was similarly, but discreetly, discouraged.

At the Tosa hairpin six laps later Schumacher came tantalisingly close to finding a gap, but again Alonso was equal to the task.

Added to Alonso's problems, they were closing on the battle for 10th place between Mark Webber and Vitantonio Liuzzi.

The last thing Alonso needed was traffic, so he did the smart thing and went just fast enough not to make an issue of it.

And he did that lap after lap, with the sang froid of a master.

The final lap came and went, and he was still 0.215s in front, equal to Schumacher's challenge. Button was third.

"I think this was my best win in Formula One so far," he said when it was all over, "because it was different to all the others. I didn't have a gap to allow me to be conservative, and I knew Michael was catching up from behind and that meant I had to push all the way through.

"Three in a row is a fantastic feeling and I'm really looking forward to Spain." Schumacher had mixed feelings. "I am happy in one way and excited after such a race," he said.

"But on the other hand I am disappointed after making a mistake in qualifying this morning [he started 13th on the grid after sliding off the road].

"f not for that this would have been the perfect day for us."

However, as he pointed out, second place was a brilliant turnaround in fortune for a team that was in disarray in Bahrain.

No doubt about it, Ferrari and Bridgestone are back with a vengeance. Button's third gave him his first podium of the year and his first points.

But BAR-Honda had come to Imola quietly convinced they had found eight-tenths of a second a lap, and here they were finishing 10 seconds adrift. "It looks like we are very much back in the game," Button said.

After early leader Kimi Raikkonen retired with a driveshaft failure, McLaren-Mercedes stand-in Alexander Wurz did a fine job to take fourth in his first race since 2000, while Jacques Villeneuve shut up his critics with a strong drive into sixth for Sauber-Petronas.

Toyota's Ralf Schumacher was stripped of eighth place after race stewards added 25 seconds to his time for a pitstop incident. The team said they would appeal.

- INDEPENDENT