By Jens Marx Apr 2, 2006, 14:10 GMT
Melbourne - Defending champion Fernando Alonso won what he named a 'crazy' Australian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday and with it stretched his lead atop the championship standings.
Spanish Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Renault F1 team celebrates his victory after the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at the Albert Park Street Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday 02 April 2006. EPA/RAINER JENSEN
Alonso first took advantage of a problem of Renault team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella ahead of the start and then overtook pole position holder Jenson Button of the Honda team in the third lap after a first of four safety car stages due to several crashes.
Many drivers complained about grip problems due to cool tyre temperatures and 10 cars did not finish the third of 18 season races.
'The race was a little crazy. At some moments I was 20 seconds ahead, then the lead disappeared when the safety car came out,' said the Spaniard Alonso.
While Alonso got his second season and 10th career victory ahead of McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen and Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher - ex-champion Michael Schumacher was the most prominent crash victim in the culmination of a bad weekend for Ferrari.
Alonso, 24, commands the F1 standings with 28 points from victories Sunday and in Bahrain plus a second place finish in Malaysia. Fisichella and Raikkonen follow with 14 each.
'Twenty-eight out of 30 is a dream. I hope we can finish like we did last year. But the other teams will come back, we have to be ready,' said Alonso.
The drama at Albert Park began ahead of the official start and lasted until the very end, with Button's engine blowing up in the final lap and the car coming to a halt 100 metres from the finish line.
McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya spun in the formation lap. The engine of Fisichella, the winner in Malaysia two weeks ago and last year in Melbourne, then stalled which led to a new warm-up lap and cost the Italian second place on the grid.
Button won the start from pole against Alonso, who was third in qualifying, but the safety car came out after the first lap after crashes from Ferrari driver Felipe Massa and Toyota's Jarno Trulli.
It was back out again in the eighth lap as the track needed to be cleared from the debris of a crash by Red Bull driver Christian Klien.
Alonso handily took the lead when the safety car left for the first time and was also not troubled by the final two outings of the safety car, when first Michael Schumacher lost control after driving over the curb into the grass ahead of the home straight and then Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed his Toro Rosso.
He crossed the line after 57 laps and 302.271 kilometres in 1 hour 34 minutes 27.870 seconds.
'It seems that our car warmed the tyres better. I managed to overtake him (Button) easily. It was not too difficult to pull away,' said Alonso.
Raikkonen, the 2005 runner-up, got his first podium finish of the season although he was troubled by a vibrating front nose for several laps and Ralf Schumacher came third despite a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
'The car is quick. If we get a race without problems we can fight for victory,' said Raikkonen.
Ralf Schumacher said that 'we achieved a lot more than we hoped for,' but also spoke for many drivers when he mentioned the grip problems.
'We were all sliding. It was very difficult with the grip,' he said.
Nick Heidfeld was fourth in a BMW and Fisichella rebounded from his early mishap to place fifth ahead of Jacques Villeneuve in the second BMW, Rubens Barrichello in the other Honda and American Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed.
The F1 now moves to Europe for the April 23 San Marino Grand Prix in Imola.
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