Raikkonen ends Alonso's win streak
 |  Raikkonen scored an impressive third career victory in Barcelona |
| |
BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) -- McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen flew from pole position to the chequered flag to win the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, the Finn's third Formula One victory.
Raikkonen, whose previous wins came in Malaysia in 2003 and Belgium last year, spoiled the homecoming of Renault's title leader Fernando Alonso who was chasing a fourth straight win.
Alonso came a distant second ahead of Italian Jarno Trulli in a Toyota while seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher retired with 18 laps left.
Schumacher, who had won the last four Spanish grands prix, quit after one of his tyres failed him when he was running in third place.
"I don't know what happened," he said. "I may have picked up some debris, although I didn't see anything. For something to happen to that front left-hand tyre is unusual.
"We didn't have any problems with tyre-wear. I would have been competitive right to the end."
Raikkonen crossed the line 27.6 seconds before Alonso after pulling away at a second a lap in the early stages.
His triumph ended Renault's run of four victories in a row and made up for the disappointment of two weeks ago when he led at Imola from pole before retiring.
"The car was perfect the whole weekend, we knew we would be strong in the race," Raikkonen said. "When I saw I was leading by so much, I didn't see the point to keep putting pressure on the car."
Trulli's third podium finish of the season maintained his second place in the championship while Toyota's Ralf Schumacher was fourth, ahead of Renault's Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Australian Mark Webber in a Williams.
Capacity crowd
Watched by the King of Spain, and with most of the 115,000 capacity crowd willing him on, Alonso could at least take comfort in an extended overall lead and his fifth successive top three finish.
The 23-year-old now has 44 points to Trulli's 26. Raikkonen has 17. Renault have 58 to Toyota's 40.
The circuit lived up to its reputation of producing predictable winners, Raikkonen the 11th driver in 15 races there to win from pole.
Never has a driver won from outside the top three on the starting grid and they did not look like doing so on Sunday, with the pattern set from the start when Alonso scythed past Webber to settle in behind Raikkonen.
Schumacher, who chased the Spaniard all the way to the chequered flag in the last San Marino Grand Prix, did a longer first stint than the frontrunners and ran in second place briefly before the tyre problems.
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was seventh for McLaren on his return from a two-race layoff due to injury, while Briton David Coulthard collected a point for Red Bull.
Fisichella could have been higher had he not been forced to make an extra stop while running second to change his front wing. Mechanics scrambled frantically under the car, trying to free something, as he waited for 35 seconds.
The safety car was deployed for a lap at the start after both Minardis were left stranded on the grid, apparently due to a software malfunction.
The field was reduced to 18 cars by the absence of the BAR team, who were starting a two-race ban for a breach of technical regulations at the last round in Imola.
