Renault are the constructors champions...

Finishing off in style
Fernando alonso stamped his authority on the chinese grand prix when he lead the race from start to finish to conclude a momentous season both for himself and renault. Right from the start he showed incredible race pace which the Mclarens themselves were not able to match. With his fellow team mate providing a second level of defense alonso sped away from the field putting nearly a second more per lap. It was not as though he was running very light as was suspected before the race. The renaults were really quick, the engineers deciding to throw in everything in a quest to clench the constructors. In fact, alonso pitted on lap 19 but that too i doubt due to the safety car coming out on to the track. The safety car in fact nullified the early advantage he had gained when he came out of the pits still leading the race. All the drivers at the back had pitted and caught up with him. Alonso again pulled away from the field when they started racing again.

A drab and wierd race
The race was wierd. Safety cars spent a huge amount of time on track first due to a loose drainage cover and then due to narain's incredible crash - perhaps the largest crash of the season. Montoya was the unlucky man as his tyre took the drain covers and had to retire. Mclaren's hope of winning the constructors pretty much fizzled out with that what with alonso dominating and fisi in the second place. The second safety car procession was much longer and was the result of narain loosing control and dramatically crashing out of the race. His car was a total wreck. Luckily he climbed out uninjured. A bad end to his average season. I doubt he will be getting a race seat the next time around. The lad has a lot to learn. This second safety car incident also happened to produce a wierd incident. All the cars were proceeding in a slow procession when schumi lost control and spun away from the track. It was the end of the race for him. Everyone pitted again and when they came out kimi was in 2 while fisi was in 3. It was an ideal arrangement. When the race started again, alonso pulled away again from the field. The rest of the race was pretty much status quo though there were a few interesting battles like the one between weber and barrichello. Barrichello was struggling with his car probably due to the completely worn out tyres. Fisi once again threw away a great chance when he was handed a drive through penalty by the race stewards for blocking the other cars while entering the pit lane. This gifted his podium to a gleeful ralf who was right behind him.

Alonso crossed the chequered flag in style reflecting the seson pretty much as it had been. The renault are the constructors and this should mean a lot to them not to say how much it means to alonso. As for kimi it was again a case of so near yet so far.