Fernando Alonso, the Spanish driver of McLaren-Mercedes has won a Formula One European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring Sunday in a race best described by the word “chaotic”.

Fernando Alonso overtook Ferrari's Felipe Massa with five laps remaining to secure victory while Red Bull's Mark Webber took third.

The chaos started right after the start due to a heavy rain, which eventually led to the race being red flagged after only four laps. But those four laps were full of events as all the drivers rushed into the pits to change to intermediate tyres.

However, even intermediates proved inadequate as Hamilton, Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil and both Toro Rossos all slid off the track at turn one, with Vitantonio Liuzzi nearly colliding with the safety car in the process.

Spyker’s Winkelhock, who found himself in the first position due to the incidents, restarted the race from the front of the grid behind the safety car. Massa began from second,  followed by Alonso with Raikkonen seventh.

Lewis Hamilton, who suffered a heavy crash during the qualifying session, has started the race from the tenth position in the grid, but after the slid off and his McLaren was subsequently lifted from the gravel and he restarted from 17th place and a lap down.

But with the circuit slowly drying out Raikkonen pitted with 49 laps remaining to change to slicks. Massa and Alonso did likewise a lap later and once Red Bull's Coulthard, who restarted from fifth, and BMW-Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld pitted, Raikkonen found himself up in third spot.

But Raikkonen's race ended with 26 laps remaining as his Ferrari stuttered to an eventual halt, meaning Red Bull's Mark Webber moved up to third.

The defining moment of the race came on lap 55 when Alonso had overtaken Massa. Massa was seen to exchange angry words with Alonso after the race over the overtaking incident, but the Spaniard waved him away.

"It (the overtaking manoeuvre) was so close," said Alonso."We touched each other two times, and I apologise to him (Massa) because I was so stressed when I finished a race we nearly didn't finish.”

"I was not too happy at the end of the race because we touched each other, but I've nothing against him.

"On the podium, I realised this is motor racing. If I said something to him, I apologise in front of everybody, so I want to enjoy the win and forget everything." he added.

In the press conference Massa downplayed the incident. "It is just something that happens. If other people want to make a lot out of it, then that is their problem." he said.

After this race, Hamilton is still the leader in the driver’s championship but the Spanish Alonso is just two points away, thanks to today’s victory. Massa advanced in the third position with 59 points, while his team-mate Raikkonen is now on the forth with only 52 points.

The next race will be in Hungary, on August 5.