Alonso wins German GP

Hockenheim:

Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix on Sunday and extended his lead in the Formula One championship when his closest challenger Kimi Raikkonen went out with a mechanical problem. Raikkonen started from the pole and led comfortably until the 36th lap of the 67-lap race, when his McLaren-Mercedes suddenly stopped on the track. His McLaren-Mercedes teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who started from the back of the grid, charged back to finish second, ahead of Jenson Button in a BAR-Honda. Giancarlo Fisichella, Alfonso's Renault teammate, came in fourth ahead of defending world champion Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari. Schumacher surged ahead to third at the start but could not hold on and dropped back to fifth, the place he started from. Meanwhile, India's Narain Karthikeyan finished 16th in the race. After pulling out of the qualifying race on Saturday, the Jordan driver started from the back of the grid but managed to finish ahead of teammate Tiago Monteiro. (AP)