On Sunday, Alonso regained the championship lead with a superb victory at the Monaco Grand Prix. His team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, was second ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Alonso started the race from the pole position and soon he managed to built up a comfortable six second lead from his team-mate Hamilton

The two McLarens then completely dominated the field as they distanced themselves from the chasing pack. At the halfway stage Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who started from third on the grid, and Giancarlo Fisichella in a Renault, were the only ones who had not been lapped by the race leaders.

The Spaniard said after the race that it had been the best victory of his career. "I achieved a hat-trick. Pole, fastest lap and victory. It does not get much better than that.

"It was a fantastic weekend and something very special. The car was perfect and it was just wonderful. I think I have won 16 or 17 races in my career, but I do not think that I have ever managed to have more than one minute over the third placed driver."

It was only a minor setback as he soon put some distance between himself and Hamilton and even though the youngster took over the lead as Alonso was first to go into the pits, the Spaniard was first a few laps later again as Hamilton refuelled.

Hamilton, who had said before the race that he was aiming for a victory, said that he had been held up by all the traffic. "Here in Monaco it depends a lot on how fast you get through the traffic.

"You win some and you lose some and today I certainly lost. I even had to ask for the blue flag to be waved, so that I could overtake.

"I had to find a line between driving aggressively and carefully. We wanted to make sure of taking a one-two here and I had to make sure that even though I was trying to catch Fernando, I was not being too aggressive."

The two final places in the points belonged to Alex Wurz in a Williams and Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari, who managed to claw his way from 16th on the grid to finish eighth.

The race was the fifth of 17 season races, with the next Grand Prix being the one in Montreal in Canada on June 10.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Monaco Grand Prix

Monte Carlo, Monaco, Monaco;

78 laps; 260.520km;

Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time

 1.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1h40:29.329

 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +     4.095

 3.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +  1:09.114

 4.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  +     1 lap

 5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +     1 lap

 6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +     1 lap

 7.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)  +     1 lap

 8.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  +     1 lap

 9.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap

10.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +     1 lap

11.  Button        Honda                (B)  +     1 lap

12.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  +     1 lap

13.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +     1 lap

14.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +    2 laps

15.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +    2 laps

16.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +    2 laps

17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    2 laps

18.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:15.284

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap

Albers        Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    71

Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    54

Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)    18

Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)    2

World Championship standings, round 5:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Alonso        38        1.  McLaren-Mercedes      76

 2.  Hamilton      38        2.  Ferrari               56

 3.  Massa         33        3.  BMW Sauber            30

 4.  Raikkonen     23        4.  Renault               16

 5.  Heidfeld      18        5.  Williams-Toyota        7

 6.  Fisichella    13        6.  Toyota                 5

 7.  Kubica        12        7.  Red Bull-Renault       4

 8.  Rosberg        5        8.  Super Aguri-Honda      1

 9.  Trulli         4       

10.  Coulthard      4       

11.  Kovalainen     3       

12.  Wurz           2       

13.  R.Schumacher   1       

14.  Sato           1       

All timing unofficial