Barcelona, Spain – King Juan Carlos made Fernando Alonso feel like a winner.
The Spanish driver finished second to Kimi Raikkonen on Sunday at the Spanish Grand Prix. Alonso was denied a fourth straight win in a race before a roaring sellout crowd of 115,000 that included the king.
“Second place here at home is like a victory for me,” Alonso said.
Raikkonen led all the way from the pole in his McLaren- Mercedes for the third Formula One victory of his career. Alonso, in a Renault, was trying to become the first Spaniard to capture his national race since it was first run 54 years ago.
Seven-time series champion Michael Schumacher was forced out after 46 laps when his car limped into the pits with a flat tire. Ferrari has failed to score a point in two of the past three races.
Schumacher, meanwhile, has not won in six straight races, matching his longest stretch since he joined Ferrari in 1996. He last won seven months ago in Japan and will try to break the streak in Monaco on May 22 in what has become a troubling season.
“No doubt it is moving away from us,” said Schumacher, who won 13 times last year and captured the past four Spanish Grand Prix races. “But not so far away that we already have to give it up.”
Raikkonen finished in 1 hour, 27 minutes, 16.830 seconds. Alonso was 27.6 seconds behind, with Jarno Trulli of Toyota third.
Ralf Schumacher of Toyota was fourth, followed by Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella and Mark Webber of Williams-BMW.
“Overall the car was perfect,” Raikkonen said. “I cannot think of anywhere it was not strong.”
At Alonso’s three wins this season – Malaysia, Bahrain and San Marino – the king called each time. This time, he was in the pits and gave him a royal hug on the podium before presenting Raikkonen with the trophy.
“He told me to keep it like this – or something like this – because we enjoyed the race,” Alonso said.
Alonso, 23, is on track to be the youngest driver to win the season title.
Through five of 19 races, he leads the standings with 44 points, followed by Trulli with 26. Raikkonen moved into third with 17 points.
In team points, Renault leads with 58, followed by Toyota (40), McLaren (37), Williams (21) and Ferrari (18).
