Kimi Raikkonen grabbed a consolation third place for the Maranello marque to leave him 18 points behind Hamilton, while Felipe Massa is 23 points adrift after he retired early in the race.

Of course, everything could change depending on what punishment - if any - the World Motor Sport Council mete out to McLaren in Thursday's second hearing into the 'spy' case in Paris.

With the threat of expulsion from the championship still hanging over them, the championships could yet be decided off track.

If not, then Massa’s chances of winning the title are incredibly slim after he retired on lap 10.

With the four grands prix remaining, his position is almost an impossible one.

Massa had made a fine start to the race, passing Hamilton on the long run down to the first chicane.

But Hamilton again displayed the daring side to his racing nature as he went round the outside of Massa.

As the two drivers went through the chicane, the right-rear tyre of Hamilton’s car came into contact with the front-left of Massa’s.

Whether that caused any damage to the Ferrari is unclear, but the 26-year-old made an unscheduled pit stop on lap nine, taking on tyres and fuel, only to pull into his garage a lap later.

David Coulthard’s race was dramatically over at the start of the second lap after he hurtled off the track at the Curva Grande and into a tyre barrier at around 150mph.

The Red Bull Racing star had collided with Giancarlo Fisichella at the first chicane on the first lap, and unbeknown to the Scot it damaged his front wing.

As the 37-year-old then powered around the sweeping right-hand bend soon after, the wing disintegrated, leading to his dramatic accident.

But again, and as with Raikkonen who walked away unharmed from a 200mph smash in practice yesterday, Coulthard was able to clamber out of his car unaided.

The incident, though, led to the introduction of the safety car for four laps, at the end of which Hamilton attempted a pass on Alonso as they again went into the first chicane.

But it was only a half-hearted attempt to overtake as the reigning world champion was comfortably able to hold his line, and so it came down to a battle of strategies.

Alonso had the better of that exchange, while the safety car had aided Raikkonen and he was able to execute a one-stopper.

When Hamilton came in for his second set of fresh rubber and more fuel on lap 40, he fell behind Raikkonen after emerging from the pit lane.

The Ferrari fans cheered, but less than three laps later, the 22- year-old again underlined his ability by producing the move of the race.

Heading down the pit straight, Hamilton was a long way behind the Finn, but he flew past his startled rival heading into the first chicane again with an astonishing piece of late braking.

That settled matters as Alonso was able to go on and take the flag by six seconds ahead of Hamilton, on the podium for the 11th time in 13 races in his rookie year.

The remaining points were taken by Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica for BMW Sauber, Nico Rosberg for Williams, Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen and Jenson Button, the latter taking only his and Honda’s second point of the season.