Fernando Alonso closes in on F1 title
Last Updated: Saturday, October 21, 2006 | 3:35 PM ET
CBC Sports
Fernando Alonso has a second consecutive Formula One world title within his grasp.
The Renault driver can finish as low as eighth in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix — the final race of the 2006 season — and the 25-year-old Spaniard will still join an elite group of drivers who have repeated as world champions.
Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Mika Hakkinen, Jack Brabham, Juan Manuel Fangio and Alberto Ascari have achieved the feat.
Fernando Alonso just needs a single point in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix to win his second straight F1 world title.
(Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)
Alonso tops the driver standings with 126 points and has a 10-point lead on Schumacher going into Sunday's race.
The Ferrari legend, who will retire after Sunday's race, needs to win in Brazil and Alonso has to finish worse than eighth to claim a record-extending eighth world title.
An eighth-place finish would allow Alonso to extend his lead to 11 points over Schumacher.
If, however, Alonso finishes out of the top eight and Schumacher wins the race (and earns 10 points), he would win the world title. If two drivers are tied on points at the end of the season, the tiebreaker is victories — both Alonso and Schumacher have won seven races ahead of Sunday's showdown.
Felipe Massa won the pole for Sunday's race with a scintillating performance during the qualifying session Saturday.
The 25-year-old Brazilian delivered a stunning lap in one minute and 10.680 seconds in his Ferrari to earn his third pole of the season.
McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen will join Massa in the front row from the No. 2 position with Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Alonso starting third and fourth.
"The target this afternoon was to be in the top five, so I am very happy with this position," Alonso said. "Starting from the second row is perfect for our approach this weekend, and so far everything is going to plan."
Schumacher had throttle problems that forced the German to abandon his Ferrari. He will start tenth on the grid.
"It is more difficult from 10th position," Schumacher said. "The only thing we do now is wait and see how the race will develop and make the best you can out of the situation. It would have been nice and more interesting to drive the race from the front."
'I cannot lose this opportunity'
Alonso is well aware he controls his own destiny.
"Last year, I had three chances: [Brazil], China and Japan. This year, I have just this race, so I cannot lose this opportunity," Alonso told reporters this week.
"The dream is close to being realised again, but when you have a chance to be a champion, there's always pressure."
Renault can also clinch a second straight team title as they lead Ferrari by nine points. They need just 10 points between Alonso and teammate Giancarlo Fisichella Sunday to hold off the Ferrari challenge.
"To be honest, the most important thing for me is the drivers' championship — not only for me," said Alonso, who will join the McLaren team next year.
"People remember who is champion and the car he drove, but I don't think anyone remembers who was the [team] champion 10 years ago.
"For sure it's important, but I think the team and myself know which is more important."
Racing to tie
Schumacher looked to be out of the world title picture earlier in the season.
He trailed Alonso by 25 points, but then reeled off five wins in seven races to tie the Spaniard with 116 points.
However, Schumacher saw his world title hopes all but go up in smoke two weeks ago at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The German's engine blew on the 37th lap and he didn't finish, opening the door for Alonso to win at Suzuka and take a 10-point lead into Sunday's season's finale.
Schumacher has already conceded the title to Alonso.
"We all know that it is one point that Fernando needs and Fernando is a very good driver and that should not be any problem," the German said after the Japanese race.
With files from Canadian Press
