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Alonso powers to French GP victory
Fernando Alonso strengthened his grip on the Formula One championship with a commanding victory in the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours on Sunday. The Spaniard never relinquished the lead after starting in pole position and quickly putting considerable distance between himself and other title contenders. McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen made up ground from 13th on the grid to finish second with reigning champion Michael Schumacher a distant third. Alonso, who has now won five of the season's 10 races, was recording his sixth career win. He leads the drivers standings with 69 points, Raikkonen is second with 45 and Schumacher is third with 40. Seven times champion Schumacher has worked his way into contention after a sorry start to the season and boosted by his success in the U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis where seven of the team's including Renault and McLaren did not start because of concerns over tire safety. But normal service was resumed in France and the performance of the Ferraris leaves Schumacher's overall title hopes looking slim. "It was really, really good. The car performed extremely well again in the race, we were very competitive from the first lap," said Alonso. "The last 10 laps went really slowly. I just wanted to cross the line and enjoy the victory with the team and the grandstand opposite the pits where most of the people were coming from the Renault factory." The 23-year-old is the first Renault driverr to win the French Grand Prix since the great Alain Prost in 1983 and the result was never in doubt after he powered off the grid to open a massive gap on Jarno Trulli in the Toyota, who had shared front row. Raikkonen, who was dropped 10 places on grid after his engine blew up in qualifying, worked his way through after adopting a two-stop strategy, while most his rivals were coming in for three stops. Britain's Jenson Button finally picked up his first points of the season for BAR by finishing fourth, but like everyone bar the first three was lapped by the flying Alonso. Trulli slipped back down through the field to take fifth for Toyota, with Giancarlo Fisichella sixth in the second Renault. Trulli's team-mate Ralf Schumacher claimed seventh while Jacques Villeneuve offered Sauber a glimmer of hope by taking the final point for eighth. The race became a procession almost from the start and with 15 laps gone, Alonso was 21 seconds clear and had a big enough buffer to pit comfortably five laps later and rejoin in the lead. The McLarens were unleashed after Trulli pitted with Schumacher on lap 18, with the German coming out ahead, but Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya retired on lap 48 with a hydraulic problem. Alonso, who had not scored points in the last two races after crashing in Canada and then being unable to compete in Indianapolis, was not to be threatened. With Renault's new president Carlos Ghosn attending his first grand prix, the Spaniard took the chequered flag 11.8 seconds clear of Raikkonen, slowing down to give a 'High Five' salute. Reuters contributed to this report. 
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