Full Throttle

Fernando Alonso became Formula One’s youngest world champion when he finished third as Juan Pablo Montoya claimed the Brazilian Grand Prix victory for McLaren Sunday.

Spaniard Alonso, 24, was outclassed as Montoya led teammate Kimi Raikkonen home to score McLaren’s first one-two in more than five years, but the Renault driver did enough to claim the six points needed for the championship trophy.

Alonso has been a model of consistency this year and absorbed the pressure with ease to finally end the five-year reign of outgoing world champion Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.

But McLaren proved it is the top team with an impeccable performance that boosted its hopes of beating Renault to the constructors’ trophy, easing eased ahead by two points with two races to go.

“It has been a fantastic championship and Fernando is a fantastic champion,” said Renault team boss Flavio Briatore.

“We have been fighting to the end and he has done the best for the performance we have at this moment. He has been so consistent this year. His one mistake was in Canada and other than that he has been fantastic. He is terrific.”

Montoya was never challenged on his way to his third victory of the season, but Raikkonen came home seconds behind already sure that his slim hopes of chasing down Alonso for the title were over.

It was an easy victory for McLaren, which was thankful the threatening clouds over the circuit never broke, but Raikkonen was left rueing a lack of consistency for costing him the title.

Alonso made a clean getaway from pole to lead Montoya into the first corner but there was carnage behind when Antonio Pizzonia collided with David Coulthard’s Red Bull and was spun into his Williams teammate Mark Webber.

Pizzonia and Coulthard retired with Webber coming in for repairs as the safety car was deployed due to debris on the track, and when it came back in at the start of lap three Alonso stayed ahead of Montoya into the first corner.

But the Colombian was not waiting around and he stole the lead on the run up to the fourth turn then raced into the distance while Alonso fended off the challenge of championship rival Raikkonen.

Alonso made his first stop some nine laps earlier than Raikkonen, and the Finn used that time to jump past the Renault driver and into second place with Fisichella losing out to Michael Schumacher in the stops and dropping to fifth.

Button and Barrichello, BAR-Honda teammates next year, provided the entertainment in the middle of the race as they battled for sixth place, Barrichello eventually easing past in a slick move at turn one on lap 44.

Montoya stayed ahead of Raikkonen through the second set of stops and the McLaren pair eased home to take the victory as Alonso pumped his fist in his championship glory.

German Michael Schumacher, who relinquished his crown when he dropped out of the title race in Italy earlier this month, appropriately followed the new wave of drivers home in fourth place for Ferrari.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella finished fifth for Renault with Brazil’s Barrichello pleasing his home crowds with a sixth place finish in his last home race for Ferrari.

Briton Jenson Button was a disappointing seventh after improvements to his BAR-Honda car failed to push him higher up the field, and Ralf Schumacher brought home the final point for Toyota.

But it was Alonso’s day as the Spaniard, who took the lead in the title race back in March and has never given it up, took a composed approach and came home with the crown.

1. Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) McLaren 1hr 29min 20.574sec
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren at 2.527sec
3. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 24.840,
4. Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 35.668
5. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 40.218
6. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:09.173
7. Jenson Button (GB) BAR 1
8. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1
9. Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1
10. Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR 1
11. Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber 1
12. Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber 1
13. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 2
14. Christijan Albers (Ned) Minardi 2
15. Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan 3

1. Fernando Alonso (Spa) 117pt
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) 94
3. Juan Pablo Montoya (Col), Michael Schumacher (Ger)
5. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) 45
6. Jarno Trulli (Ita) 43
7. Rubens Barrichello (Bra), Ralf Schumacher (Ger) 38
9. Jenson Button (GB) 32
10. Mark Webber (Aus) 29
11. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) 28
12. David Coulthard (GB) 21
13. Jacques Villeneuve (Can) 9
14. Felipe Massa (Bra) 8
15. Tiago Monteiro (Por) 7

17. Narain Karthikeyan (Ind), Christian Klien (Aut) 5
19. Christijan Albers (Ned), Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) 4
21. Patrick Friesacher (Aut) 3
22. Antonio Pizzonia (Bra) 2
23. Takuma Sato (Jpn), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita)

Constructors
1. McLaren-Mercedes 164pt
2. Renault 162
3. Ferrari 98
< 4. Toyota 81
5. Williams-BMW 59
6. BAR-Honda 33
7. Red Bull 27
8. Sauber-Petronas 17
9. Jordan 12
10. Minardi 7.