Highlights

Alonso sees winner-take-all battle for F1 title

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-08-08 15:08

LONDON, Aug 7 - Fernando Alonso says the Formula One championship has been transformed into a winner-takes-all battle that is going his way despite the best efforts of Ferrari's Michael Schumacher.

The Spaniard told reporters after the most action-packed and exciting grand prix of the season in Hungary on Sunday: "I am confident that I am going to win more races with Renault so everything's okay."

The 25-year-old world champion saw his advantage over Schumacher trimmed by just one point to 10, with five races remaining, after he crashed out while leading.

It was the first time since Canada in June 2005 that the Renault driver had failed to score in a race.

Seven times champion Schumacher could have bitten a hefty chunk out of that lead in the first wet race in years but the German failed to finish, inheriting eighth place only after BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica was disqualified.

Instead Briton Jenson Button took a thrilling first victory -- and the current Honda team's first -- on an afternoon without a Renault or a Ferrari on the podium.

"It doesn't change anything at all for us," said Renault's chief strategist Pat Symonds, after the team's first complete blank of the season left Renault seven points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' standings.

MINIMAL DIFFERENCE

"The end result in terms of the points difference is minimal.

"The pleasure of yesterday's race for the team was that we were able to dominate in all conditions, and that the Renault was the best car out there," he added in a team review of the weekend.

"Equally, we feel very, very confident that in a dry race, the car would have been extremely competitive, and I am convinced we would have beaten Ferrari.

"In spite of scoring zero points, that's a very encouraging situation for the next races."

Alonso, winner six times so far this season to Schumacher's five, said before Sunday's race he expected Hungary and the next two races in Turkey and Italy round to be difficult for Renault.

He had seen the team coming back strongly in China, Japan and the season-ender in Brazil but he sounded more confident on Sunday's evidence.