The Far East: A Nice Place For Fernando Alonso

Far East Asia seems to be a really nice place for Fernando Alonso lately. After winning in the first ever night race at the Singapore Grand Prix, the Spaniard was at it again with his second successive victory, after winning Japanese Grand Prix at Toyota's Fuji Speedway Circuit.

After starting fourth on the grid, the Renault team were optimistic of a place on the podium, but little did they think a top place finish was on the cards. However, after the altercation at the start between Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, and then another involving Hamilton and Felipe Massa, Alonso was able to get ahead from the beginning and win his second Grand Prix in a row.

Nelson Piquet—who inadvertently helped his teammate win two weeks ago when his crash into the wall brought out the safety car—battled from 12th on the grid to secure a fourth place finish, making it happy days for the Renault team, who are now 16 points clear of Toyota in the intense battle for fourth spot in the Constructor's Championship.

Lewis Hamilton on the other hand did nothing to help his or McLaren's title hopes, when he paid the price for overdoing it on the first corner, running wide when trying to overtake Kimi Raikkonen, as the Finn had immediately displaced Hamilton at the top after being quickest off the grid.

Hamilton managed to recover however, and after the first lap ended up in sixth, one place behind rival Felipe Massa. This positioning then proved decisive in the second lap, as disaster struck for Hamilton, when he spun following contact with Massa.

The young Briton had to wait for all other cars to past before he could continue. This meant he was 18th, with only local boy Kazuki Nakijima behind him, as Red Bull's David Coulthard retired as he crashed heavily into the wall after spinning off from just the first corner of the race.

Hamilton was forced to pit after his altercation with Massa, and also had to serve a 10 second stop and go penalty, effectively ending any hopes of picking up points. The altercation also dealt a blow for Massa's hopes of a podium finish, as he too had to serve a penalty, meaning he ended up in seventh, one place higher than expected, due to a 25-second penalty imposed on Toro Rosso's Sebastian Bourdais.

Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen took the other podium places behind Alonso, and Jarno Trulli took fifth in his team's home Grand Prix on their own circuit. Sebastian Vettel finished sixth for Toro Rosso, Massa boosted his title hopes after being elevated to seventh, and all this meant Australian Mark Webber took the final points position for Red Bull in eighth.

It was yet another exciting Grand Prix this season. It was a race with a high casualty rate, as several drivers either crashed or had their car fail on them. Most notable of all was Heikki Kovalainen, who looked all set for a place on the podium before falling victim to apparent engine failure.

Another Grand Prix with all sorts of twists and turns in the battle for both the Drivers' Championship, and the Constructors' Championship. A good day for Ferrari; Massa cutting Hamilton's lead to just five points in the WDC, and a seven point gap opened over McLaren at the top of the Constructors' Championship. A bad day for McLaren; no points whatsoever, after Hamilton's 12th place finish and the retirement of Heikki Kovalainen.

A good day for Renault; Alonso getting his second consecutive Grand Prix victory, and Nelson Piquet getting fourth to secure Renault a 16 point gap over Toyota in the Constructor's Championship.

And once again, a bad day for my favourite team, Force India. Once again Adrian Sutil could not complete a Grand Prix, and nor could Giancarlo Fisichella, despite battling so well and at one point being ahead of Felipe Massa AND Lewis Hamilton.