While much was made of the historic overtones of Alonso's maiden victory (youngest driver, first Spaniard, etc) perhaps the most impressive aspect of it was the manner in which it was achieved. He used the Renault's renowned launch system to catapult himself into the lead at the first corner, and then romped away from the pack at an incredible pace.

He was helped in the first stint by Jaguar's Mark Webber, who grabbed second place as both Williams bogged down on the startline. From second and fourth on the grid, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya slumped to eighth and ninth by the first corner, behind eighth placed starter Michael Schumacher of Ferrari, and matters were made even worse when Ralf spun at Turn 2.

"When I pressed the [launch system] button it was like throwing an anchor," said Montoya. "Everybody went past like we weren't even accelerating. I couldn't believe that I was down in P8 by the first corner."

Webber, meanwhile, repelled an overly-optimistic attack by Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello on his second place at Turn 6 on lap three, the Brazilian straightlining the corner and rejoining ahead of the Australian. In his attempts to let Webber through, Kimi Raikkonen and Alonso's Renault team-mate Jarno Trulli also got past.

After just four laps Alonso already had a 10sec lead, which he increased with a punishing series of fastest laps just before his first pitstop. Raikkonen briefly grabbed the lead until his stop two laps later, after which Alonso held sway once again. Such was his pace that he lapped world championship leader Michael Schumacher and team-mate Jarno Trulli in the latter stages, and cruised to a comfortable first grand prix victory.

"The victory is a dream come true for me," he said. "I'm 22-yeard-old and I've got my first win in my pocket, so I hope for a long career in F1 with more victories. After eight or nine laps I asked the team 'where are the others?' and they told me they were 15secs behind, and I thought 'my God!". I pushed a lot to build my advantage and then completed the race quite slowly."

If the destiny of the winner was never in doubt, second place was also a foregone conclusion by half distance. Raikkonen's super start from seventh to fourth, which came third when he scrabbled past Barrichello, was the catalyst for his runner-up position. He got ahead of Webber at the first round of pitstops and never looked threatened thereafter.

"I got a very good start and I tried the outside again, but Barrichello blocked me," said Raikkonen. "Everyone went to the inside and I braked on the clean part of the track and was able to gain many places. I lost a bit of time behind Webber, but I'm happy with second from seventh on the grid."

Williams was forced to play catch-up after its disastrous start. Montoya was stuck behind M Schumacher before his first stop, but once ahead of him he closed right on to the tail of the second Ferrari of Barrichello, just as Rubens suffered a frightening rear left suspension failure which pitched him off the road and into the tyrewall.

"I had no indication that anything was wrong before it happened," said Rubens, who was uninjured in the hefty head-on impact.

Despite getting a face-full of bodywork and suspension parts, Montoya continued his charge. Meanwhile, R Schumacher was carving his way through the lower order and had virtually negated the time lost in his first lap spin by his second pitstop. His highlight was a blinding pass on brother Michael, just as Montoya failed to make a move stick on Trulli's Renault just ahead of him.

Montoya used his second stop to leapfrog ahead of both Trulli and Webber, as did R Schumacher. The Williams duo charged until the end, and Montoya even found time for a quick spin.

"We clearly had probably the fastest car today but passing was quite difficult," he said. "I had to wait until the pitstops and then pushed when I had a clear track. I made a mistake when I spun, though."