Alonso extends championship lead with first win at Monaco

DEFENDING world champion Fernando Alonso drove from pole position to a clear and consummate victory for Renault in yesterday’s controversy-hit Monaco Grand Prix.

His first win in the principality, in the wake of Saturday’s extraordinary penalty that sent disgraced rival Michael Schumacher from pole to the back of the grid, enlarged his lead over the seven-times champion to 21 points.

The Spaniard, who dedicated the win to Michelin tyres chief Edouard Michelin, who died on Friday, said: “The race was quite emotional from the start. Kimi [Raikkonen] put some pressure on me, which was quite tough, but it was good in the end.

“At Monaco you really have to keep your concentration and push to the limit all the time. It’s a race that I put a cross against on my calendar at the start of the year, so now I have it. It’s great for the team, Michelin and me.”

Schumacher had clocked the fastest time in Saturday’s qualifying session but was penalised for deliberately stopping on the circuit to prevent his rivals from improving their times.

In a race of little true incident, but much attrition, Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in a McLaren came home second, 14.5 seconds behind Alonso.

Montoya said: “It’s a great result because the last few races were really tough, especially for me, and I just hope we can take this pace and continue for the next few races.

“The traffic was awful though. Sometimes you would get trains of four or five cars ahead of you and one car I nearly hit, I think, two or three times.”

David Coulthard took Red Bull’s first podium finish with a performance worthy of the superman logos their cars carried in deference to the new Hollywood blockbuster.

The Scot even donned a super-hero’s cape on the podium, which was left champagne-less as a mark of respect to the late Mr Michelin.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, returning to form for Honda, finished fourth and held off Schumacher over the final laps after luckless Italian Jarno Trulli, in a Toyota, had pulled up and retired while running third with just three laps remaining.

It was Alonso’s first victory in the glamorous showpiece race on the tight streets of the Mediterranean principality, his fourth in seven races this year and the 12th of his career.

The race was largely processional and broken up only by the pit stops and the engine failures that removed Australian Mark Webber, in a Williams, and then Finland’s Raikkonen, in a McLaren-Mercedes, from the fray after 49 and 51 laps respectively.

Webber had led the 78-laps race briefly during the first round of pit stops and Raikkonen was running second at the time his engine blew at Portier.

Schumacher, meanwhile, worked his way forward with patience and skill. From the start, he swiftly moved up to 16th, where he was trapped behind Jenson Button in a Honda for some time, before sweeping past him at the chicane and fighting his way, via two pit stops, towards the points.