Alonso ecstatic after capturing F1 crown
Fernando Alonso created Formula One history today when he became the sport’s youngest world champion after finishing third in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.
The Renault driver (aged 24) only needed to finish on the podium to secure his first championship and he duly delivered.
Juan Pablo Montoya, who won in Brazil last year, led home McLaren’s first one-two for five years but it was not enough to rescue team-mate Kimi Raikkonen’s title hopes.
Alonso steered clear of trouble to finish third, securing him a place in the Formula One record books as the first Spaniard to win the championship.
Alonso, who started his Formula One career at backmarkers Minardi in 2001, had led from pole position but Montoya swept past early in the race to be followed soon after by Raikkonen.
Outgoing world champion Michael Schumacher has been forced to take a back seat this season as Formula One’s young guns did battle for the right to succeed the great German.
Schumacher at least had something to celebrate in Sao Paulo today with fourth place, his best result since Hungary in July, which ended a three-race points drought.
The Ferrari driver’s pit stop strategy helped him demote Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella to fifth place, contributing to the Anglo-French team losing their lead in the constructors’ championship. McLaren have taken over at the top with a two-point lead.
Jenson Button’s remarkable run for BAR-Honda continued with his eighth consecutive points-scoring finish, although the Englishman could only manage seventh despite starting fourth.
Button lost sixth place to Rubens Barrichello late in the race while Ralf Schumacher took eighth for Toyota.
At the start, Alonso led from pole position but the racing was interrupted after a clash further down the order.
Red Bull’s David Coulthard hit Antonio Pizzonia, whose car bounced into Williams team-mate Mark Webber, pitching all three drivers into retirement.
That clash brought out the safety car for a lap and when racing resumed Montoya quickly set about attacking Alonso.
He closed in the first chicane before pulling alongside on the run to Subida do Lago corner and edging ahead under braking.
Fisichella also made progress at the restart, muscling past Schumacher’s Ferrari for fourth place.
Alonso’s pole position came courtesy of a much lighter fuel load than his McLaren rivals, a move confirmed when he became the first of the front runners to pit on lap 22.
His short first stint cost the Spaniard, who dropped down to third behind Raikkonen when the order settled down after the first round of stops.
His Renault team-mate Fisichella also pitted early and suffered a similar fate, slipping behind Schumacher in the scrap for fourth.
Takuma Sato briefly held a top-eight spot midway through the race courtesy of his unconventional one-stop strategy.
Sato’s pit stop on lap 37 lifted Button up to sixth but he came under attack from Barrichello, who will be his BAR team-mate next season.
The Brazilian forced his way ahead in turn one on lap 44, going wheel to wheel with Button before getting a faster exit to power clear.
Alonso safely negotiated the final round of pit stops while Raikkonen just missed out on leapfrogging Montoya for the lead, coming up less than a second short.
With the title fight lost, Raikkonen settled for second as Montoya wrapped up his second consecutive win at Interlagos but it was Alonso who had the biggest smile on the podium.
Alonso said: “I am extremely happy and it is a very emotional day for me.
“I came from country with no tradition in Formula One and I fought alone basically because I have not had any help from anybody all throughout my career.
“I arrived in Formula One thanks to the results in previous categories and my sponsors. This is the maximum I can achieve in my life and career.”
Renault chief Flavio Briatore led the congratulations for Alonso, the first driver to win a title for the Renault team.
Briatore, who is also Alonso’s manager, was full of praise for the driver he has helped on the road to stardom.
The Italian, who bought Alonso his Formula One debut at Minardi in 2001, said: “This year, Fernando’s one mistake was in Canada [when he crashed out]. After that he has been fantastic.
“In the races he is terrific. Sometimes in the qualifying Kimi Raikkonen is quicker, but this year Kimi is fantastic as well.
“If you see the difference between Kimi and Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi has an incredible feeling with this car. I mean, sometimes Kimi is really difficult to beat but we know that.”
Alonso’s title win takes the number of active world champions in Formula One up to three and one of those, Jacques Villeneuve, has been particularly impressed by the Spaniard.
Villeneuve, the 1997 champion, enjoyed a brief stint as Alonso’s team-mate at Renault last year and saw at first hand how well the 24-year-old works with the team.
Briatore has always seen Alonso as a star of the future and set about building Renault around him when he was promoted to the race team in 2003, with Villeneuve impressed by the results.
The Sauber driver said: “If you have a team behind you that works for you then it always makes it so much easier because when something goes wrong you don’t take the whole responsibility, you can share it and that helps.
“It’s his team and that’s great for him, that’s the only way if you want to win the championship. It’s a great team, when I was there they were very open with me and never gave me a problem.
“He is in his house. It’s like putting your favourite pair of shoes on – it fits perfectly. That’s how he is at Renault.”
Villeneuve has urged Alonso to stick with a winning formula after taking his first world title, but warned the trappings of success can also come with pitfalls.
He added: “Once you have won the world championship, you achieve your goal. It’s something that is in the bag so it makes life easier.
“It makes your career easier because you get more attention, you get more respect.
“It makes it easier to get where you want to go. But on the other hand the tiniest mistake costs you 10 times more. That’s a good price to pay though, it’s definitely worth it.
“The only thing to keep in mind is whatever you have done, if it worked, don’t change it. Don’t try to reinvent yourself.”
Another of Alonso’s former Renault colleagues, Jenson Button, admits he has been stunned to see the Anglo-French challenge for world titles this year.
Button was the catalyst for BAR-Honda’s second place in the constructors’ championship last year, when they saw off a challenge from Renault to take runners-up spot behind Ferrari.
But BAR have never come close to threatening Renault this season, much to Button’s surprise.
He said: “I really didn’t think last year they would be so competitive. It’s a great achievement.
“We were racing much better than them and we were scoring a lot more points. I was a little bit surprised.
“They went the right direction with the car when the aerodynamic regulations came in but like Ferrari we didn’t.”
BRAZILIAN GP RESULTS: 1 Montoya, 2 Raikkonen, 3 Alonso, 4 M Schumacher, 5 Fisichella, 6 Barrichello, 7 Button, 8 R Schumacher. JORDAN: Karthikeyan 15th, Monteiro (Ret).
DRIVERS STANDINGS: 1 Alonso 117, 2 Raikkonen 94, 3= M Schumacher 60, 3= JP Montoya 60, 5 G Fisichella 45, 6. J Trulli 43, 7= R Barrichello 38, 7= R Schumacher 38.
CONSTRUCTORS: 1 McLaren-Mercedes 164, 2 Renault 162, 3 Ferrari 98, 4 Toyota 81, 5 Williams-BMW 59, 6 BAR-Honda 33, 7 Red Bull 27, 8 Sauber 17, 9 Jordan 12.
