Alonso bags another win for Renault in Japan

The Fuji circuit didn't provide the torrential rain as per last season but it sure gave everyone an equally entertaining race on Sunday with race positions being shuffled multiple times between the front runners. From the get go all hell was unleashed at turn 1 when Lewis Hamilton executed a poorly judged overtaking maneuver on Kimi's inside line. With the cold air reducing tire grip, Lewis out-braked everyone and himself, forcing both Ferrari's wide and allowing the BMW of Robert Kubica to stick the inside line and leap to 1st position from 6th.

Qualifying 4th, Alonso had only his lucky charms to thank once more as he managed to take advantage of the first turn mistakes of the fore-runners and drove through the chaos into 2nd, just behind the BMW. Only till Kubica headed in for his first pit stop did Alonso take the lead and put in laps times bettering that of Mercedes and even the Ferrari's. Just like how Singapore served Ferrari their spectacular catastrophe of a race, Japan did the same to Mercedes McLaren.

Running in 3rd, Keikki Kovalainen just about managed to keep up with the Renault of Alonso but eventually had to pull to complete stop later on in the race due to a mechanical failure. Hamilton had an eventful afternoon himself, first earning a drive through penalty for forcing Raikonnen wide in turn 1 and then getting spun by title contender Massa at turn 11. His race strategy had fallen apart and Lewis had to work his way up from down the order to finish a non-point scoring 12th position.

Another agonizing race for Force India as Adrian Sutil seemed to show good pace in a very strong 10th position until debris on the start/finish straight punctured his right rear tire and forced him to pull over at the exit of the pit lane. Giancarlo Fisichella also suffered some bad luck in the form of a mechanical failure that forced his retirement shortly after Adrian's.

Felipe Massa showed much composure, recovering from a spin in the closing stages of the race caused by Sebastien Bourdais in the Toro Rosso at turn 1. After the spin, Massa took advantage of his well preserved tires and managed to take out a full second on each lap off 8th placed Mark Webber who was evidently suffering with grip running on his worn tires. Massa finished the race 8th but was pushed up to 7th after stewards gave Bourdais a 25 second penalty for his earlier incident with the Ferrari which effectively means Massa has reduced the gap between himself and Lewis to just 5 points. Kimi Raikkonen drove a race reminiscent of the tenacity shown in past seasons to finish a very respectable 3rd behind Alonso and Kubica.

But the day belonged to the two Renaults once more. Even Nelson Piquet had a cause for celebration finishing 4th right behind the Ferrari, his best performance yet. The pace of the Renault has certainly picked up over the last 2 races and at last there seems to be something solid the team could work on for the next season. With Alonso still being hopeful of being given a seat in a more competitive team for the 2009 season, sticking at Renault seems to be the obvious choice since the top 3 teams have already confirmed their driver line-up.

With China and Brazil to come, the championship will be fought down to the wire just like last season and if this race was any indication of what's to come, we're in for a heart-attack of a finish.