Do you think Fernando Alonso had a strategic plan for winning the race or did he win it purely on luck?

LUKE: THERE was luck involved, but I think Alonso's strategy was planned, hoping for something to happen.

If things had gone smoothly without any accidents or the safety car being deployed, there was no way that Alonso would have even reached the podium.

Why did Alonso make his pit-stop on Lap 12?

Experience would have told him that safety cars are usually deployed on street circuits because of a higher chance of accidents.

By Lap 12, nothing happened, so his team probably thought it was a good time to call him in.

Although it was considered early to do a pit-stop on Lap 12, it would give Alonso the advantage over the others if something were to happen in the next few laps that followed.

So do you think Alonso knew that he stood a chance of winning the race?

RIGHT after the first safety car pulled in and the other cars made their pit-stops.

When the race restarted, Alonso moved up to fifth position and his team would probably have told him over the radio that the other four guys in front of him would either be penalised or had to make their pit-stops soon.

That would have been his chance to move up to first position.  

ALONSO'S ROUTE TO S'PORE GP VICTORY

START

FERNANDO Alonso starts in the 15th position.

LAP1
Alonso moves up to 12th position.
LAP10
Alonso moves up to 11th position.
LAP12
Alonso is the first to make a pit-stop.
LAP15
Nelson Piquet Jr spins and collides into a wall on
Turn 17. Mark Webber, David Coulthard and
Rubens Barrichello hit the pits before the safety
car comes out. And they have an advantage over
the rest who line up behind the safety car.
LAP17
Pit lane opens and nearly all the cars make their
stops. Felipe Massa drives off with the fuel hose
still attached. He has to stop for his mechanics to
pull the hose off. The delay gives an advantage to
the other drivers.
LAP19
Alonso manages to move up to fifth position
after his pit-stop. Nico Rosberg leads the race,
followed by Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella and
Robert Kubica in fourth position. Massa drops to
18th position.
Lap25
Massa serves a stop-and-go penalty for unsafe
release from the pit lane.
LAP27
Rosberg is still leading Trulli. But Kubica and
him have to serve a 10-second stop-go penalty,
for pitting while the pit lane was closed.
LAP31
Trulli leads Alonso by 10.6 seconds. Rosberg
manages to take third position.
LAP34
Alonso makes it to first position because the four
drivers in front of him either have to make their
stops or serve their penalties. Trulli makes his
first stop and rejoins in 8th position.
LAP42
Alonso, Coulthard and Hamilton make their pitstops.
But Alonso rejoins the race first.
LAP50
Adrian Sutil dives into the barriers at Turn 17,
bringing out the safety car again.
LAP53
The safety car pulls in and the race restarts.
LAP54
Alonso leads Rosberg by three seconds.
LAP61
Alonso on his last lap to the chequered flag.

This article was first published in the New Paper on Sept 30, 2008.