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Alonso gives Renault victory

17/10/2005

Fernando Alonso topped off his phenomenal year by winning the Chinese grand prix and helping Renault to their first ever constructors' title.

It was the newly-crowned world champion's seventh win of the season, leaving him 21 points ahead of McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, who finished in second place in Shanghai.

McLaren needed to make up a deficit of two points on Renault to win the constructors' title, but Juan Pablo Montoya retired after running over a loose drain cover, an incident that effectively ended McLaren's chances.

Giancarlo Fisichella held on to the fourth spot, assuring Renault's victory with an extra five points.

Alonso's victory never really looked in doubt after he built up a 15.7 second lead.

And in a race fraught with incident, Michael Schumacher spun off the track while following the safety car, which was on the track after Montoya's incident with the loose drain.

The safety car was on again when Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan drove his Jordan into a wall of tyres on lap 30. He was unhurt despite the car bursting into flames.

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