Alonso almost did not finish

Renault nursed Fernando Alonso's car to the finish line, engineering director Pat Symonds revealed. After his final pit stop Alonso put in some very hot laps and closed in on eventual winner Fisichella, but then cooled the pace.

"We had a few problems with Alonso's car, we were concerned about the fuel pump currents and alternator so we were nursing him a bit to the end," Symonds said. "We could hold Jenson ok, we had both the engines on minimum as we would, but we had other concerns."

"It was a great race from Fisi – what a bounce back after such disappointment in the last race, he pulled it back," Symonds added.