Ferrari is targeting...

Ferrari is targeting winning the constructors’ championship after victory in Japan for Fernando Alonso and Renault virtually handed the Spaniard a second consecutive drivers’ title.

Alonso, who only qualified fifth, had been running second to Schumacher at Suzuka when the engine in his title rival’s Ferrari blew up. It was the German’s first such failure in a race since the US GP in 2001. Afterwards, a remarkably upbeat Schumacher said: “The drivers’ title for me is finished. I don’t want to think of a race I must win, with the other guy not finishing.

“We go to Brazil to win the constructors’. Our team is great; the boys are the best I know. I’m very satisfied with all our mechanics and engineers in Ferrari. That’s racing – you win together and lose together.” The Italian team is now nine points behind its French rival in the constructors’ battle.

Delighted Alonso won his seventh race of the season, but crucially it was his first since the Canadian GP in June. He admitted: “I was so concentrated on the asphalt because there was oil on the track, that I didn’t realise until I was side by side that it was Michael who had stopped.” Alonso admitted that when he realised Schumacher was out, he gave a clenched fist salute. How- ever, he refused to be too optimistic for the Brazilian race, adding: “We are now in a much better position than before, as when we were on equal points we needed to beat Michael, we had to beat Ferrari and it’s hard to approach the weekend with that pressure.”

He continued: “Now we only need a few points, but we must finish the race and this is sometimes unfortunately not the case because of mech-anical problems, bad luck, an accident, a spin. You never know what is going to happen in the race.”