F1 - Monte Carlo 2007

5th May 2007

Fernando Alonso regained the lead of the world championship beating Lewis Hamilton in a 1-2 for the McLaren team.

The silver cars were in a class of their own throughout, routinely lapping a second faster than the opposition and leaving Ferrari's Felipe Massa trailing home nearly a whole lap behind in third place.

Despite some acrobatic and at times heart-stopping driving with an oversteering car, Lewis was unable to get past Alonso.

The fact that he looked downbeat after his fifth podium finish in as many F1 starts was a measure of just what an astoundingly good job he has done so far, and how high expectations have been raised.

Alonso and Hamilton both got away well from the front row, the Briton crossing over to the right-hand side to cover any challenge from Massa and slotting in behind his team-mate before the first corner.

A set of super-soft tyres propelled Nick Heidfeld off the line and the German put a muscular move on Nico Rosberg to grab fifth behind Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault.

All 22 cars made it round the first lap but Vitantonio Liuzzi got out of shape at Massenet at the start of lap two and buried his Toro Rosso in the barrier.

His MP4-22 had not been handling quite to his liking and a tyre pressure adjustment at the pit stop had not cured the problem.

By the time Alonso stopped for the second time on lap 51, he had 11 seconds in hand.

It was too much for Hamilton to overcome, particularly since it transpired that he was pitting just two laps later �%u20AC%u201C although a leisurely out-lap from Alonso made it a lot closer than it might have otherwise been.

In fact, over the next few laps Alonso allowed his lead to dwindle to as little as 0.7s.

Did he have a problem? Or �%u20AC%u201C having made his statement when he needed to �%u20AC%u201C was he simply moderating his pace to ensure no mishaps on the way to the chequered flag?

Alonso relaxed his pace a little and the silver cars held station until the finish.

After initially keeping the McLarens in sight, Massa had a lonely afternoon holding down an ever more distant third place.

The Brazilian crossed the line one minute and nine seconds behind Alonso.

Fisichella also ploughed his own furrow in fourth, but this result �%u20AC%u201C beating both BMW Saubers on merit �%u20AC%u201C was a morale-booster for the Renault squad, suggesting that the world champion team is gradually regaining lost competitiveness.

Robert Kubica parlayed a 45-lap opening stint and a single pit stop into fifth place, leapfrogging his team-mate Heidfeld who ran a less conventional one-stop strategy with a short first stint on super-soft tyres followed by a long run to the flag.

Alex Wurz took seventh for Williams, his first points-scoring finish since his return to grand prix racing this year.

The Austrian fought a successful rearguard action to keep Kimi Raikkonen at bay throughout the closing stages.

Starting from a lowly 16th after his qualifying mishap, Raikkonen made a good start to move up four places but thereafter couldn't break free of the midfield traffic.

Scott Speed took a worthy ninth place for Toro Rosso, capitalising on an excellent getaway and solid pace thereafter.

The two Hondas both fell back a place from their grid berths to finish 10th (Rubens Barrichello) and 11th (Jenson Button) after the Japanese team chose an unorthodox two-stop strategy with a short final stint on super-soft tyres.

Rosberg's fine qualifying performance came to nothing as Williams' strategy backfired and he spent much of the race stuck behind slower cars, ultimately finishing down in 12th.

Race Results

  1. Alonso
  2. Hamilton
  3. Massa
  4. Fisichella
  5. Kubica
  6. Heidfeld
  7. Wurz
  8. Raikkonen
  9. Speed
  10. Barrichello
  11. Button
  12. Rosberg
  13. Kovalainen
  14. Coulthard
  15. Trulli
  16. Schumacher
  17. Sato
  18. Davidson

Fastest lap: Alonso  1m15.284s

* As I missed this race the report is based on itv's version.