A race interrupted by two safety car periods saw Alonso and Renault race away in the early stages, shielded from behind by team mate Giancarlo Fisichella, and build up a lead of more than fifteen seconds over the second Renault and the two Mclaren-Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya behind him.

All seemed to be going Alonso's way until lap 18, when Montoya ran over what turned out to be a loose drain cover and pitted for a new front right tyre. The safety car was immediately deployed so that the offending item could be removed.

This is not the first time such an incident has affected a race at Shanghai - a race in the Australian V8 Championship a short while ago featured an identical occurence, the cover destroying the floor of one of the competitors cars.

As the cars streamed into the pits during the safety car period Montoya found himself further disadvantaged by having to stop a second time for fuel, a combined tyre and fuel stop being outlawed this season. A few laps later and Montoya's race was over for good, as the drain cover had destroyed the floor and the cooling system on the McLaren.

Michael Schumacher also retired at this point, locking up and stalling the car in a dismal end to his 2005 season. The race had started in bizarre fashion from the German when a collision with the Minardi of Christijan Albers on the installation lap destroyed his race car, meaning he had to start from the pits in the spare car.

As the racing resumed Alonso began again to stretch out ahead of Fisichella, with Raikkonen holding a watching brief ahead of Rubens Barrrichello in the remaining Ferrari, Ralf Schumacher's Toyota and Mark Webber in the BMW-Williams.

Barely had the drivers had a chance to settle down when the safety car was called out again.

This time Narain Karthikeyan had endured a massive accident at the final turn, slamming the Jordan into the barriers and coming to rest among the detritus of his accident in the middle of the track. He walked away unhurt.

This was lap 27 and the ensuing yellow flag period brought a repeat of the earlier exodus to the pits. Crucially this time Fisichella blocked Raikkonen at the pit entry, a move that would later earn him a drive through penalty.

Caught out this time around was Jenson Button, the BAR driver having pitted just before the safety car came out, so losing him a number of places in the process.

Raikkonen, having long-fuelled at the earlier stop, managed to jump Fisichella this time, and the order when the safety car pitted was Alonso, leading the trio of Ralf Schumacher, Felipe Massa in the Sauber and Christian Klien's Red Bull, neither of whom had made a second stop.

When those three did stop, with ten laps to go, they released Raikkonen who immediately began to lap at a much faster pace, but it was a case of too little too late as Alonso was too far down the road, the race in the bag.

Third place after an excellent performance went to Ralf Schumacher, the Toyota holding off the penalised Fisichella for the last couple of laps. Klien took fifth place and more points in what has been a promising season for the young Austrian and Red Bull Racing, while Massa's similar strategy paid off with sixth in Saubers last race before the team becomes BMW and the Brazillian joins Ferrari for 2006.

A fighting seventh was Mark Webber, also in a 'last race' scenario as this is the final race in the BMW-Williams partnership. Webber fought hard all race, battling particularly hard with Barrichello, and deserved another points finish in what has been a hard year.

Button took the final point in a race that should have yielded more for the Briton, the safety car periods ruining his strategy.

Rounding out the top ten were David Coulthard in the second Red Bull and Jacques Villeneuve after an uneventful race in the second Sauber.

Tiago Monteiro finished 11th in the only remaining Jordan, ahead of Antonio Pizzonia in the second Williams, another whose race was compromised badly by the safety car incidents.

Jarno Trulli never got his Toyota out of midfield thanks to the stop-go nature of the race, and Robert Doornbos took an emotional finish in the last race for the much-loved Minardi team.

The lasting image from China for millions of television viewers worldwide will be that of Fernando Alonso, the new World Champion, joyfully singing 'We Are The Champions' over his car to pits radio having taken the final chequered flag of a fantastic season.