Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, managed to extend his lead over the Ferrari drivers by coming in second despite suffering from illness before the race.

Blown engine, hurt crew member at Ferrari
Massa was lucky to escape a post-race stewards' investigation with only a €10,000 fine, after his crew released him from a pit stop into the path of Adrian Sutil's Force India. The operation of Raikkonen’s car, meanwhile, was a disaster. Not only did a blown engine cause the Fin to end his race, but before that the reigning world champion started his car before his crew had finished refuelling, causing his rear wheel to strike mechanic Pietro Timpini. The pit crew member suffered a fractured foot from the accident.

Half a minute behind Hamilton, BMW's Robert Kubica managed to secure the final podium spot despite a plastic bag becoming entangled with his car and even robbing him of his steering at one point. His team mate Nick Heidfeld started eighth but dropped back a position and didn't score points. "This was one of the worst races ever for me," said the German, who struggled for pace. "His pace was simply too slow," technical boss Willy Rampf said.

McLaren edges closer to Ferrari in constructors' championship
More than 30 seconds behind Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen finished fourth, ensuring that - with Raikkonen's failure to finish - McLaren also clawed back three points to Ferrari's narrowing lead in the constructors' championship.

To the despair of his local supporters, crowd favourite Alonso retired from the second of his two home races this year after Williams' Nakajima crashed into the rear of his Renault. His team mate Nelson Piquet suffered damage to the front of his car and finished in 11th place. "It's a weekend to forget," said boss Flavio Briatore.

Aussie Mark Webber posted another poor performance, finishing 12th. Beaten comprehensively by the junior Toro Rosso team, Webber admitted it had been a "disastrous" weekend for Red Bull and that there is a now “a lot of analysis to do.”

Amid perhaps the worst weekend performance of his long career, Honda opted to pull Rubens Barrichello's car out overnight - thus requiring him to start from pit lane - and change all his braking components. He finished 16th of the 17 runners at the chequer.

Lewis Hamilton now leads the drivers’ standing with 70 points going into the next race – six points ahead of Felipe Massa and 13 points ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

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