UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Race: Alonso survives Schu assault

Michael finishes just short of victory

If a champion is proved by his performance under pressure, Fernando Alonso clearly staked his claim as the heir apparent to the Michael Schumacher throne on Sunday at Imola.

The Spaniard lasted 13 of the toughest Formula One laps he had ever encountered to claim victory in the San Marino Grand Prix by just two tenths of a second.

The man in his shadows was the one he is tipped to succeed, Schumacher, in a drive that would rate among his best, doing all but winning despite qualifying a lowly 14th.

Schumacher, at the wheel of a Ferrari, returned from a deficit of over 30 seconds, laps which included the fastest of the race and a memorable pass on BAR’s Jenson Button, to push Alonso to the wire.

But Alonso didn’t flinch, answering all of Schumacher’s attempted passes and hanging on to claim his third successive, and Renault’s fourth, victory.

Added pressure came from his Renault engine, which the team admitted needed to be nursed over the weekend.

During practice Alonso completed just 12 laps – some of his rivals completed over 20 in one session alone – and still managed to comfortably qualifying on the front row.

Schumacher meanwhile arguably sacrificed victory after making a mistake in the heat of qualifying.

The German, whose car was a class above that of any other, would surely have won if it wasn’t for the off at the second Rivazza that saw him lose three seconds.

But second place was almost as satisfying after a start to the season that had seen him amass only two points from three starts.

Also kick-starting their title bid was Button who finished third.

The BAR pilot had been in the mix from start to finish, matching Alonso’s stunning times with equally impressive efforts.

But he couldn’t find an answer to the pace of Ferrari F2005 and finally bowed out of victory contention with 16 laps to go.

Heading into the Variante Alta chicane, the pair of battling Williams baulked Button and Schumacher needed no second invitation.

The most Button saw was a flash of red as Schumacher tore across the chicane and set after his final target Alonso, who was nine seconds up the road.

Further behind, in fourth position, was the anonymous figure of Alex Wurz.

The McLaren substitute was never sighted despite a solid drive on his first race start for four years.

The day could have been even better for his British squad had Kimi Raikkonen not retired just 11 laps into the event.

The Finn had qualified on pole position and led the race off the line, blitzing Alonso in the early laps to quickly build an advantage.

But the afternoon was a question of what might have been after a failure in the left driveshaft.

Reliability issues had plagued BAR in earlier races but Takuma Sato rounded out a double finish for the Brackley based squad.

The Japanese ace finished fifth and 34 seconds off the lead.

Sixth was Jacques Villeneuve who put in one of the drives of the afternoon.

The French-Canadian had been under immense scrutiny for his performances at the wheel of a Sauber and on Sunday he answers his critics in style.

Off the line Villeneuve made a four place gain an he found a further two through gutsy driving to finish the weekend with a three-point haul.

Finishing up the points paying positions was the Toyota pair of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher.

The result was somewhat of a fall from grace after fighting for victory at previous events.

But three points are better than none so they still finished the race with some satisfaction.

At the conclusion of the fourth round Toyota still remain in second in the constructors’ championship, 18 points behind Renault.

Alonso also extended his lead to 18 points while Michael Schumacher jumped up the order to fourth, 26 points off the Spaniard.

The circus now heads to Spain where Renault are highly confident of securing another victory.

But the raw pace demonstrated by Schumacher’s Ferrari will certainly leave the French squad thinking, if not a little worried.

Written: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 13:42:56