Fernando Alonso took full advantage of early chaos at Fuji to win his second grand prix of the season.

Fernando Alonso took a surprise victory in the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji, the Spaniard capitalising on a chaotic opening lap that saw Ferrari and McLaren give up their start-line advantage.

Once Lewis Hamilton had forced both team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa wide at the first turn, and he ahd overcome initial leader Robert Kubica, Alonso took control of the race, only allowing anyone else a look at the lead during the two pit-stop windows as he cruised to his 21st grand prix victory.

Kubica and Raikkonen completed the podium after the Finn proved unable to overcome the BMW Sauber, which also took advantage of the scuffles at the start, while Nelson Piquet Jr went some way to perhaps extending his F1 career with an assured drive to fourth.

Jarno Trulli claimed fifth for home favourites Toyota, while both Toro Rosso cars scored points as Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel came home line astern.

The final point, however, was almost as important as Alonso’s win as Massa recovered from his collision with title rival Hamilton on lap two – and the ensuing penalty – to catch and pass Red Bull’s Mark Webber in the closing stages and reduce the championship deficit to six points with two races remaining.

The Brazilian, however, faces another, post-race, investigation for a clash with Bourdais in which the Ferrari came off worst.

Hamilton, who also suffered a penalty for his move on Raikkonen at the opening corner, came home twelfth.

Fernando Alonso takes back-to-back victory as expectations torn up at Fuji.

1. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 67 01:30:21.892
2. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +5.2
3. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +6.4
4. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault +20.5
5. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +23.7
6. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +34.0
7. Sebastian Vettel Germany Toro Rosso-Ferrari +39.2
8. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +46.1

9. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +50.8
10. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +54.1
11. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +62.0
12. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +78.9
13. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda-Honda +1 lap
14. Jenson Button Britain Honda-Honda +1 lap
15. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +1 lap
Rtd Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India F1 Team-Ferrari 21 laps completed
Rtd Heikki Kovalainen Finland Vodafone McLaren Mercedes-Mercedes 16 laps completed
Rtd Adrian Sutil Germany Force India F1 Team-Ferrari 8 laps completed
Rtd Timo Glock Germany Panasonic Toyota Racing-Toyota 6 laps completed
Rtd David Coulthard Britain Red Bull Racing-Renault 0 laps completed

Fastest lap:

Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 18.426s lap 55

Fears have subsided that championship leader Lewis Hamilton’s pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix might be in doubt.

A journalist during the official post-qualifying press conference informed the McLaren driver that he was under investigation for possibly impeding Nelson Piquet.

“Are you serious? From qualifying?” Hamilton replied in exasperation. “I don’t think so. At one stage he pulled out of the way of me during the qualifying session but I came in that lap.

It turns out that Renault engineers did make an enquiry with the FIA’s Charlie Whiting, but only after mishearing a radio message from Piquet about Hamilton.

Ultimately, there was no incident to investigate.

Source: GMM
© CAPSIS International

F1 World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton has left Ferrari title rival Felipe Massa with a mountain to climb in the Japanese Grand Prix, by blitzing the field to seal his second consecutive pole position at Fuji Speedway.

Formula 1 World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton did his utmost to break Ferrari’s spirit by turning what had looked like being a scarlet benefit in qualifying for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix into pole position for McLaren-Mercedes – with title rival Felipe Massa able to do no better than fifth.