Fernando Alonso won the Japanese Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton's lead atop the Formula One world championship was cut to six points following a collision with nearest challenger Felipe Massa.

Renault's Alonso, the 2005 and 2006 champion, finished ahead of Sauber's Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari at the Fuji Speedway track. Alonso's 21st Grand Prix victory followed up his win in Singapore two weeks ago.

``Back-to-back victories, it is hard to believe,'' Alonso said at a televised news conference. ``I made a decent start and when the others went off I was able to go through behind Robert. Then I had a really great second stint that won me the race.''

McLaren's Hamilton, who started the 67-lap race from pole position, was 12th after falling to last place on the second lap when Ferrari's Massa tipped him into a spin as Hamilton tried to make a passing move. With two races remaining in China and Brazil, Hamilton has 84 points to Massa's 78.

(at least better than Massa who was 13th after starting from pole position in S'pore)

Both drivers were given penalties for different incidents, though Massa recovered to work his way through the field and take eighth place.

Hamilton tried to recover a slow start by braking late into the first corner to try and prevent Raikkonen taking the lead. The maneuver earned Hamilton a penalty for forcing another car off the track, and demoted him to sixth place behind Massa.

Chicane Collision

England's Hamilton tried to pass Massa going into a chicane on the second lap and the two cars collided, forcing Hamilton into a spin. The McLaren driver had to wait for the entire field to pass before he could rejoin the race. Massa was given his own penalty over the incident.

``On a day like this you have to hold your hands up and say you made a mistake,'' Hamilton said. ``That is what I did and I paid for it. Now I have to keep my head up and just keep going.''

The early chaos left Kubica in the lead, though Alonso took it following his first pit stop. The Spaniard stayed out of trouble the rest of the way after being told over the team radio that he had to ``sprint like hell'' to win the race.

He took the checkered flag 5.2 seconds ahead of Kubica, whose second place lifted him to 72 points and kept alive the Polish driver's championship chances.

``Finishing second is a very good result,'' Kubica said. ``It is difficult at the moment as everyone is pushing.''

New Champion

In holding off defending champion Raikkonen, Kubica ensured that there will be a new winner this year as the Finn can't finish first in the standings even if he wins the final races. Raikkonen's third place lifted him to 63 points.

Nelson Piquet was fourth today in the second Renault ahead Jarno Trulli of Toyota and the Toro Rossos of Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari has a six-point cushion over McLaren in the constructors' championship after Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen was forced out of the race on lap 16 because of mechanical failure.

The Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai is scheduled Oct. 19 before the Nov. 2 season-ending race in Sao Paulo.

taken from bloomberg.com