Yet again Fernando Alonso showcased his supreme driving skills today to claim his second consecutive victory in Fuji. The former world champion happily picked up the spoils as Hamilton and Massa both did more harm than good while making reckless moves that only send the pair tumbling down the field. 

The Spaniard held his own to keep both Kubica and Raikkonen at bay in a flawless drive that saw his expert performance awarded with his claim on the chequered flag. 

Hamilton had a terrible start and in his efforts to regain his lead he pushed Raikkonen off the road. Things went from bad to worse for the Brit as Massa punted the McLaren in to a spin. Hamilton could do nothing but watch the pack charge past him before he could race on. Both Hamilton and Massa were rewarded for their shunting efforts with drive-through penalties. 

While Hamilton and Massa were ruining their own chances the front of the field had changed dramatically. Kubica had moved in to the lead with Alonso behind him. The McLaren of Kovalainen was lying in third. 

David Coulthard’s Red Bull had made contact with another car in the first corner resulting in damage to his car’s suspension which gave way coming out of turn two. The Scotsman got a tank-slapper on, resulting in a nasty collision with the barrier. 

All the first lap confusion had left Hamilton behind Massa, hence the forth-coming shunt. Massa outbraked himself coming in to the turn 10 chicane on lap two. Hamilton did not need a written invitation and tried to make his move on the inside. 

Massa was never going to take that lying down and made his move over the kerbs over the second part of the chicane. He put two wheels on the grass and hit the left side of Hamilton’s McLaren, spinning the Brit round. 

Now at the back of the pack Hamilton had to return to the pits. His first corner antics had badly flat-spotted his tyres. 

At this point the stewards announced that both Hamilton and Massa were under investigation for their dodgy moves at the beginning of the race. 

Meanwhile, those who hadn’t lost their heads were taking advantage at the front of the field. Kubica was a second ahead of second place man Alonso. Kovalainen and Raikkonen were hot on their heels. Throughout the opening stint Alonso eradicated the one second advantage of the BMW. 

The period of the first pit stops changed the field around once again. Lap 17 saw Kovalainen pull off the road and out of the race due to a suspected, extremely rare McLaren Mercedes engine failure. 

Lap 17 also saw the stewards announce that both Hamilton and Massa would receive drive-through penalties for their opening lap’s mishaps. Lewis immediately headed for the pit lane.  

BMW’s Kubica was still in the lead at this point but Renault were hungry for the win and put Alonso out with an aggressive strategy in the middle stint. 

Fernando pitted a lap after Kubica, on lap 18 was given less fuel in a bid to leap frog the BMW and gain crucial track position in order to build enough of a cushion to retain the lead following the second round of pit stops. Alonso was sent on his way and told to ‘push like hell.’ 

This is where the magnificent Spaniard came in to his own as he executed lap after lap of near identical laps to cruise away from the distant chasing pack. 

Lap 44 came round to find Alonso 12.5s ahead of second placed Kubica, a gap with which the Polish man could do nothing about. Kubica had to now concentrate now on keeping the Ferrari of Raikkonen behind him. 

What followed was some decent racing. Raikkonen, trying to maximise his clear straight-line speed advantage, had several attempts at passing the BMW down the long straight of Fuji. 

Kubica held his nerve and, despite having the world champion at his heels, he also held his second place. 

Meanwhile Massa was fighting to pick up a world championship point. His drive-through penalty saw the Ferrari fall back to 14^th and from there on in the Brazilian got stuck in, attempting to climb back up through the pack. 

Before his second stop Massa had put in a succession of fastest lap times. Then he came across the Toro Rosso of Bourdais coming out of the pits, who had been running strongly in the points throughout the race. 

As Massa attempted to get past the Toro Rosso the pair banged wheels at the first corner and Massa spun himself round. He lost valuable time and the stewards put their heads together for another investigation. The Ferrari man lost five seconds in the incident and, as it turned out, ninth place to the BMW of Heidfeld following his final pit stop a couple of laps later. 

Massa wasn’t going to let that point go without a fight though. He plucked off the BMW down the main straight then set his sights on the Red Bull of Mark Webber. In a bold move, just yards away from the pit wall Massa claimed the final point of the day from the Australian. 

Alonso had a far less stressful time of it at the front of the field and flew to a highly deserved win. Kubica valiantly held on to his second place with Raikkonen following him over the finish line. 

Piquet did a great job for the Renault team in Japan today taking fourth, in a race that will certainly help him in securing his drive for next season. The young rookie had even been pestering Raikkonen for the position in the closing laps until a mistake at turn five meant he had to settle for fourth. 

Jarno Trulli gave the home Toyota crowd their only cause for celebration by coming home in fifth. 

Bourdais had come over the line in sixth but a post-race decision to penalise him 25s as a result of his run-in with Massa meant his place was handed to Vettel. Bourdais finished up being just outside a point-scoring position. 

Crucially, Massa ended up claiming two championship points as a result of the steward’s decision and Webber took the final point. 

Hamilton could only trail home in 12^th. 

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