The British racer has dominated Formula One from Friday practice sessions to the chequered flag.

However the tables were turned on Saturday morning when Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya were forced to chase down the impressively quick Fernando Alonso of Renault.

The Spaniard set a sizzling pace in the final practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, the first of the weekend that hadn’t been declared officially wet.

At the end of the event’s fourth session, Alonso’s time of 1:46.307 proved too good for his opposition.

Raikkonen, despite mounting two challenges, (1:46.641) was forced to settle for second place, some three tenths down on the benchmark.

Montoya slipped to fourth position as Toyota’s Jarno Trulli went on a last-minute charge and recorded a time of 1:46.681 for P3.

Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella, Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher, and the two BARs of Jenson Button and Takuma Sato rounded out a highly competitive top eight.

With the field’s attention now turning to qualifying, McLaren’s failure to track down Alonso came as somewhat of a surprise.

The team were heavy favourites – and remain so – for pole position and victory at Spa-Francorchamps, but Alonso’s pace will have ignited his confidence.

Adding further incentive to the championship leader’s task is the fact he can secure his first world title should he score more than six points on Sunday.

It is a job that isn’t impossible with fears that the Finn is nursing an unhealthy Mercedes-Benz engine.

However if recent form is anything to go by, practice defeat is only a hiccup in the McLaren juggernaut’s march to Belgian success.