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Fernando Alonso won Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix for a victory that was almost a sideshow to a breathless race that provided another twist in the title fight.
While the rejuvenated Spaniard made it back-to-back wins in his Renault, the race's history of season-defining collisions between title rivals gained a new chapter when Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa tangled in a dramatic opening two laps at the Fuji Speedway in Oyama.
Both leading drivers received pit drive-through penalties before Hamilton finished out of the points for McLaren and Massa came in seventh following a post-race stewards' decision that elevated him from eighth.
That meant Hamilton's championship lead was cut from seven to five points with two races remaining. BMW's Robert Kubica, who finished second on Sunday, continued to sneak up on the pair and is now only 12 points off the lead.
The drama began from the green light. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen - starting second on the grid - got the better of pole-sitter Hamilton and was set to get through the opening corner first.
However Hamilton, on hard tyres in cool conditions, switched to the inside and left his braking far too late, taking him off the track and forcing Raikkonen to do the same. Pushed down to sixth and a place below Massa, Hamilton attempted to fight back on turn 10 of lap two, passing Massa and forcing the Ferrari driver wide.
Massa trailed into turn 11 with two wheels off the road, went over the curbing and collided with Hamilton, putting the Briton into a spin as Massa continued. "I was outside and then he pushed me a little bit close to the gravel," Massa said. "I had two wheels on the gravel and he closed out and we touched. Because I was on the gravel I couldn't do anything as we touched and that's it."
A Ferrari crew member was shown on screens punching the air in delight as it appeared Massa was set to erode or maybe overhaul Hamilton's title lead. But his joy was short-lived since race stewards soon announced that both drivers had to serve pit drive-through penalties: Massa for the collision and Hamilton for the opening corner.
After their penalties, Massa and Hamilton were 14th and 15th respectively and the interest centred on whether they could fight back into the points. Massa did, passing Red Bull's Mark Webber on the third-last lap in another hair-raising manoeuvre that almost forced the Ferrari driver into the wall along pitlane.
That appeared to have given Massa eighth and a single point, but he was promoted to seventh by a post-race stewards' ruling that imposed a 25-second penalty on initial sixth-place finisher Sebastien Bourdais of Toro Rosso for a collision with Massa on the 50th lap.
Massa was critical of Hamilton's behaviour on the first corner. "It was a big casino out there," Massa said. "It was pretty optimistic for him, especially if you consider the championship."
McLaren team principal Ron Dennis declared himself "surprised" that Hamilton was penalised for the first corner, but the driver himself was taking succour from his five-point championship buffer. "I've only lost two points to Felipe in the drivers' championship, so it's definitely not over," Hamilton said. "Now I'll forget today ever happened and move forward."
The incident recalled the collisions between title rivals Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in the 1989 and '90 Japanese GPs, but Massa insisted his relationship with Hamilton was
not about to become as poisonous as that between those two greats.
While the focus will be on Massa and Hamilton heading into next Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, Kubica should not be overlooked.
Last year, Hamilton led Raikkonen by 17 points with two races to go and yet the Finn won the final two races and claimed the 2007 championship as Hamilton faltered in China and Brazil.
Kubica is closer, only 12 points behind. It would be a remarkable world championship if the Pole can pull it off, given he has only won one race in his career - at Canada this season - and owes his high standing to consistent point scoring.
Alonso's back-to-back wins have lifted the two-time world champion, who had made little effort to disguise his disappointment with Renault's struggles for most of the season. He is now expected to stay with Renault despite a huge potential offer from Honda.
His win in Singapore owed more to good luck than anything else, but he required no such good fortune on Sunday. "I cannot believe it right now, but back-to-back wins is a very nice feeling and the team did a great job to improve the car," Alonso said. "We are now just behind Ferrari and McLaren and this is completely amazing."
Raikkonen was forced to settle for third after a thrilling late battle with Kubica for second, with the pair wheel to wheel through a succession of corners. It snapped a run of four successive non-points finishes for the Finn. Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr, joined in the battle for second late in the race but faded in fourth for the second best result of his rookie season.
Jarno Trulli was fifth for Toyota on the company's home track. Sebastian Vettel was vaulted ahead of his Toro Rosso teammate Bourdais by the stewards' decision and finished sixth, while Webber was promoted to eighth.
