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| September 27, 2005 | Tuesday | Sha'aban 22, 1426 |
Spaniard Alonso crowned youngest F1 champion
SAO PAULO (Brazil), Sept 26: Spain’s Fernando Alonso made Formula One history as the youngest champion at the age of 24 on Sunday after finishing third for Renault in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya won the race for the second year in a row while team mate Kimi Raikkonen, the only man who could have put off Alonso’s title celebrations, finished runner-up.
Montoya would have let Raikkonen win had it helped the Finn’s title chances but Alonso needed just six points to follow Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher as champion and it was clear he was going to get them.
Alonso now has an unassailable lead of 23 points over Raikkonen with two races remaining, making him Spain’s first Formula One champion.
The previous youngest champion was Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi, who was 25 years eight months and 29 days when he took the crown in 1972.
Starting on pole position, thanks to a lighter fuel load than the McLarens, Alonso soon relinquished the lead to Montoya and settled down comfortably in third after the first pitstop.
McLaren could at least savour a first one-two finish in more than five years, since the Austrian Grand Prix of August 2000, and they took the lead in the constructors’ championship into the bargain.
It was also the team’s fifth win in a row and 40th one-two.
Montoya moved up to third in the standings with his third win of the year. Alonso has 117 points, Raikkonen 94 and Montoya 60.
The drivers’ title was the first for the Renault team, who still have a chance of adding the constructors’ crown to Alonso’s. McLaren lead those standings by 164 points to the French carmaker’s 162.
Seven times champion Schumacher finished fourth for his first points since Hungary in July, ahead of Italian Giancarlo Fisichella in a Renault and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in the second Ferrari.
Briton Jenson Button was seventh for BAR with Ralf Schumacher taking the final point for Toyota.
Williams, whose last win was at Interlagos with Montoya at the end of last season, had a miserable afternoon with both cars colliding at the start.
In a crash that brought out the safety car for one lap, Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia hit the Red Bull of Briton David Coulthard and then his own team mate Mark Webber seconds after the start lights went out.
Australian Webber pitted and eventually rejoined 25 laps down after mechanics had worked on the car.
It was the second race in a row that Pizzonia, a stand-in for injured German Nick Heidfeld at the underperforming BMW-powered team, had failed to finish.
At the last Belgian Grand Prix he collided with Montoya, despite being lapped, depriving McLaren of a one-two finish and gifting Alonso second place.
Results: 1. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren 1:29:20.574; 2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren +00:02.527; 3. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 00:24.840; 4. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 00:35.668; 5. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 00:40.218; 6. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari 01:09.173; 7. Jenson Button (Britain) BAR 1 lap; 8. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 1 lap; 9. Christian Klien (Austria) Red Bull 1 lap; 10. Takuma Sato (Japan) BAR 1 lap; 11. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Sauber 1 lap; 12. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) Sauber 1 lap; 13. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 2 laps; 14. Christijan Albers (Netherlands) Minardi 2 laps; 15. Narain Karthikeyan (India) Jordan 3 laps.
Fastest Lap: Raikkonen, 1:12.268, lap 29.—Reuters
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