Imperious Hamilton claims win

McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton won an action-packed Japanese Grand Prix and took a massive step towards becoming the first rookie to win the Formula One driver’s world championship after closest rival Fernando Alonso failed to finish at a sodden Fuji Speedway.

The 22-year-old overcame terrible conditions, two safety car periods and all manner of incidents with a mature drive to claim his fourth win of the season and open up a 12-point lead over his team-mate at the top of the drivers’ standings with just two races to go.

Alonso saw his title chances all but washed away after losing control of his McLaren on lap 42 and crashing into the safety barrier, while Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen kept his slim hopes alive by finishing third.

Continuous rain had left large amounts of standing water on the 4.563km circuit, and with the possibility of a serious accident as the cars sped down to a tight turn one enveloped in spray, the race organisers decided to order a safety-car start with Hamilton leading the grid off in formation.

And the treacherous conditions saw Ferrari’s Felipe Massa spin on just the second lap before heading into the pits for extreme weather tyres.

Massa’s team-mate Raikkonen also came in at the end of lap three to change tyres, meaning the two Ferraris were now running 20th and 21st.

Raikkonen then left the circuit on lap six before pitting a second time at the end lap 14 while Massa also took on fuel and changed tyres shortly afterwards.

But the safety car came in at the end of lap 19 and, after a game of cat and mouse between Hamilton and Alonso in the run-up to the start-finish straight, it was the Brit who led after the first corner.

Hamilton quickly opened up some breathing space over his championship rival, while Massa’s afternoon took a turn for the worse with a drive-through penalty for overtaking under the safety car before the Brazilian was hit by Alex Wurz at turn one after the Austrian had lost control of his Williams on the home straight.

The McLaren pair then made their only pit stops of the race within a lap of each other, Alonso coming in first on lap 27 but sliding down the field to ninth when he emerged again, while Hamilton rejoined in third.

But Raikkonen was by now slicing his way through the field and had moved up to 10th from the back of the field.

Hamilton then suffered his most anxious moment of the race when he banged wheels with Robert Kubica on lap 35 after an intense battle for third place, and the two cars slid off the track to allow Kovalainen to speed past.

The rookie dropped down to sixth after being passed by David Coulthard before fighting his way back up the field, while Alonso and Sebastian Vettel collided on lap 36, forcing the Spaniard off.

Alonso then had a thrilling scrap with Raikkonen before the Finn again pitted and the double world champion soon clawed his way up to fifth.

But that was as good as it got for Alonso as his world championship dreams lay in tatters by lap 42.

The rain was by now coming down harder and the 26-year-old lost control of his McLaren at turn five before slamming into the safety barriers and out of the race.

The Spaniard cut a disconsolate figure at the side of the track as the safety car was deployed again to clear up the debris from his car and Hamilton once again assumed control.

After the re-start on lap 48, Hamilton opened up a four-second gap ahead of Kovalainen with Massa amazingly climbing to third.

However, the Brazilian pitted for the fourth time to allow Raikkonen to take the position and the Finn hunted down his countryman as he pushed his Ferrari to the limit in difficult conditions.

But Hamilton cruised to the finish line to take a claim a crucial 10 points, eventually taking the chequered flag 8.3 seconds ahead of Kovalainen with Raikkonen unable to pass the Renault despite applying intense late pressure.

David Coulthard finished fourth, while Giancarlo Fisichella brought the second Renault home in fifth to complete a good afternoon for the French team,

Massa finished sixth, Kubica seventh and Vitantonio Liuzzi scored an unexpected point for Toro Rosso in eight.