Motorsport: Two in a row for Renault

SEPANG - Renault's Fernando Alonso won the Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday to seize the lead from team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella in the Formula One championship.

The 23-year-old Spaniard's second career victory, and first since 2003, was also the second in two races for his pace-setting French team.

While Renault celebrated, once-dominant champions Ferrari again struggled to score points with seven times champion Michael Schumacher finishing seventh and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello retiring.

Italian Jarno Trulli took second place for Toyota, ecstatic with their first podium finish since they entered Formula One in 2002, 24.3 seconds behind Alonso.

Germany's Nick Heidfeld finished third for Williams.

Alonso's winning time was one hour 31 minutes and 33.736 seconds. He has 16 points to Fisichella's 10 while Renault lead the constructor's standings with 26 points to Toyota's 12.

Renault's hopes of a second double-podium in a row disappeared 18 laps from the finish, however, when Fisichella, running third, collided with the overtaking Williams of Australian Mark Webber.

While Alonso took the chequered flag after starting from pole position, Ferrari and Schumacher struggled in the hottest race on the calendar.

The German, who failed to finish the Australian season-opener, could at least console himself with two points at a favourite Ferrari circuit where he has won more times than any other driver.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth for McLaren with Toyota's Ralf Schumacher fifth.

Briton David Coulthard, whose deal is heavily cash for points, added to his bank balance with sixth place for newcomers Red Bull.

The three points made the Scot the highest scoring British driver in Formula One history, taking his tally to 483. Nigel Mansell, the 1992 champion, had 482, although the scoring system was different then.

Austrian Christian Klien finished eighth, Red Bull's second successive double-scoring finish.

Neither of the BARs lasted more than three laps, both Briton Jenson Button and compatriot Anthony Davidson pulling over with smoking engines.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, the 2003 race winner who led for a lap after the first pitstops, had his race scuppered by a rear right tyre failure.

- REUTERS