Alonso heads McLaren 1-2 at Monza

Fernando Alonso led a McLaren 1-2 at Ferrari's home ground of Monza on Sunday, leading Lewis Hamilton by eight seconds. The Spaniard cut Hamilton's lead in the drivers' championship to just three points with four races remaining.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen came third but Ferrari suffered another blow with Felipe Massa retiring with mechanical problems after 10 laps.

Alonso made a clean get away at the start but Hamilton in second appeared to struggle and was almost passed by Massa. The Brazilian remained strongly on the attack into several curves and Hamilton at one time appeared to cut a chicane to keep him behind, possibly after a contact. Raikkonen passed the BMW of Nick Heidfeld at the start to take fourth place.

The safety car was out by the second lap when pieces flew off David Coulthard’s Red Bull and it crashed into the tyre wall at Curva Grande. The Scot, who had made a good start almost from the very back of the grid (having suffered gearbox problems in qualifying), was not hurt.

The safety car was in on lap six and the race resumed with Hamilton very close to Alonso. The order at the front was two McLarens, two Ferraris and two BMWs. Further back Button was showing Honda progress, passing the Williams of Nico Rosberg for eighth although the battle was to continue for some time. By lap 21 Rosberg was back in front after a wheel to wheel battle. In the other Williams Alexander Wurz was passed by Jarno Trulli’s Toyota for 12th.

Suprisingly Massa came in for a tyre change on lap 10, rejoining in twentieth but he was slow and returned to the pits and into the garage, with Ferrari team principal Jean Todt shaking his head. Mechanics appeared to be working on the back of the car but the unlucky Brazilian then got out of the car, his race over.

The McLarens now started to pull away from Raikkonen in third, with over 9.5 seconds between the Finn and Alonso by lap 14.

Hamilton came in for a pit stop on lap 18, braking heavily in the pit lane to slow down before the white line. He rejoined in sixth behind Renault’s Kovalainen. Alonso meanwhile set a new fastest time in a bid to conserve his lead and then came in on lap 20. He emerged comfortably in front on his team-mate despite a longer stop. Raikkonen was now in the lead, negotiating past backmarkers.

Kubica had a troubled pit stop with the jack briefly jammed under the car. Raikkonen was the last of the leaders to pit, on lap 25. He took on a lot of fuel and changed from soft to hard tyres, possibly indicating a one stop strategy. After this round of stops he rejoined in third behind the McLarens. Heidfeld was fourth, Rosberg fifth followed by Button, Webber, Barrichello, Trulli and Kovalainen. Kubica was in P11 after his pit stop troubles.

By lap 34 Alonso was five seconds ahead of Hamilton and 26 seconds ahead of Raikkonen. Heidfeld had started making up some ground on the heavier Finn but never got less than three seconds from the Finn as the Ferrari slowly got lighter.

Ferrari’s one stop strategy paid off in the second round of pit stops when Hamilton came in for his second stop and emerged just behind Raikkonen as the supporters in red celebrated. But the celebrations were short lived with an aggressive Hamilton forcing the Finn to lock wheels and then diving into second place on lap 43.

Alonso, meanwhile went in for his second stop and kept his first place. Kubica had by now made his way up to sixth and went wheel to wheel with Rosberg but did not go past. He did manage to later on.

The race ended with Alonso leading Hamilton by eight seconds with Raikkonen third followed by the BMW pair of Heidfeld and Kubica followed by Rosberg, Kovalainen and Button winning a point for Honda, their second this season.