Full Throttle

Fernando Alonso won the Chinese F1 Grand Prix to hand Renault its first Formula 1 Constructors’ title. Alonzo’s seventh seasonal win added an exclaimation point by going out a winner after clinching driver’s championship he took last month.

Kimi Raikkonen finished second, the Mercedes-powered team’s hopes draining away for the constructors crown when Juan Pablo Montoya hit a loose manhole cover and retired less than halfway through the race.

Ralf Schumacher drove his Toyota to a third place finish. Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, who finished fourth behind Ralf, collected a drive-through penalty for obstructive driving with six laps to go.

Christian Klien was fifth for Red Bull, with Felipe Massa, out driving fellow Sauber driver JV again, was sixth. Mark Webber was seventh in a Williams and Briton Jenson Button took the final point for BAR.

Michael Schumacher added an exclaimation point of his own in a mostly forgetable year. Schume collided with Minardi driver Christijan Albers on the way to the starting grid, then by spinning off during the race when following the safety car.

Paul Stoddart, watching his final race as Minardi boss before handing over to new owners Red Bull, blamed Schumacher for the collision. “It was Michael’s fault,” he said. “He just didn’t look in his mirrors and pulled across.

“Typical Minardi - go out with a bang.”

The race was Jordan’s 250th and last under that name; the team will return as Midland next year after being sold to Russian-born Canadian billionaire Alex Shnaider.

It was also the last for BAR, to be reborn as a wholly-owned Honda team, and Sauber which has been bought by Williams’s departing engine partners BMW.

Formula One, Sports, Auto Racing