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Alonso eases to British GP triumph
 Alonso celebrates his third victory in a row and his fifth in right races this year. SILVERSTONE, England -- Renault's Fernando Alonso led the British Grand Prix from start to finish on Sunday to maintain his vice-like grip on the Formula One championship. The world champion's first win at Silverstone, one of his Anglo-French team's home races, was his fifth in eight races and third in a row. "Winning in Spain, Monaco and Silverstone -- the last three races are a dream come true," said Alonso. "They are circuits with big names and big emotions. "And winning in this country, 20 minutes away from my home in Oxford, is for me a really good feeling and a fantastic day," he added. The 24-year-old Spaniard's lead over Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, the seven-times champion who finished second ahead of McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, increased to 23 points with 10 races remaining. Alonso has 74 points from a possible 80, with Schumacher on 51 and Raikkonen on 33 points. Worryingly for Schumacher, the chances of Alonso's lead narrowing significantly any time soon looked remote after another untroubled Sunday stroll in the sunshine for the youngest of champions. Alonso, on pole position for the fourth race in a row, was making his 14th successive appearance on the podium and he has finished second when he has not won. Sunday at Silverstone was no thriller. The Spaniard took the chequered flag a comfortable 13.9 seconds clear in the least eventful race of the season so far. Perhaps it was the early start, with the race brought forward by two hours to avoid any clash with the World Cup finals, but even the drivers sounded underwhelmed. "There wasn't much excitement there," said Schumacher, smiling thinly in a new conference after Alonso had been asked why he was looking so glum. "It was probably a lonely race for Fernando, there was a bit of action between me and Kimi but it wasn't that exciting...so there's no reason for us to jump around as if something particular has happened." Giancarlo Fisichella finished fourth, increasing Renault's lead over Ferrari in the constructors' championship to 31 points. Raikkonen, who almost banged sidepods with Schumacher at Abbey on the fourth lap when the German tried to go past to take second place, said he could have done no better: "We were a bit too slow on the straight line to challenge anyone." Brazilian Felipe Massa was fifth for Ferrari ahead of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, last year's winner for McLaren. BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld took seventh place ahead of Canadian team mate Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion who won at Silverstone in 1996 and in his title year. While Schumacher got past Raikkonen at the second stop, younger brother Ralf failed to complete a lap after his Toyota was nudged by Toro Rosso's American rookie Scott Speed. Ralf then hit Australian Mark Webber's Williams broadside, shunting both out of the race. Stewards were investigating the incident, which brought out the safety car for two laps. Briton Jenson Button's miserable home weekend fizzled out after 10 laps when he pulled over with flames flaring from his car's Honda engine. "It's massively disappointing," said Button, who had lined up a dismal 19th of 22 starters after what he bluntly described as a qualifying 'balls-up' on Saturday. "I braked going into the corner, saw lots of smoke in the mirrors and that was it." 
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