Fernando Alonso completed his championship winning year by adding victory number seven to his season's total after a dominant performance at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. He led from pole position, through two safety car periods – the first caused by a loose drain cover, the second by an accident on the track - to take the chequered flag and another 10 points for the Renault team. Coupled with fourth place from team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella the result was more than enough to give Renault the Constructor's title to add to Alonso's drivers' crown.
Second place went to Kimi Raikkonen which was small consolation for losing out to Renault in both title chases. McLaren had to accept that the constructors championship had slipped from their grasp after Juan Pablo Montoya retired from the race after colliding with the loose drain cover – surely one of the most bizarre incidents in an action packed season.
Ralf Schumacher finished third for Toyota after profiting from the interruption caused by the second safety car period which resulted from an accident involving Narain Karthikeyan's Jordan. Whilst others dived into the pits, Ralf stayed out on track and was able to build up sufficient lead before his second stop to enable him to climb onto the final step of the podium.
Giancarlo Fisichella's fourth could so easily have been third had the Italian not earned a drive through penalty for stacking up the field behind him with a very slow in-lap before his second stop.
Meanwhile Red Bulls' Christian Klien, Sauber's Felipe Massa and Williams' Mark Webber were fifth, sixth and seventh respectively, all leaping up the field in the second safety car period after their teams adopted similar team tactics to Toyota. The final point scoring position went to BAR's Jenson Button.
Louise Goodman
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