Fernando Alonso got things started on a historic day for Spanish sports. The Formula One champion won before the king, tennis star Rafael Nadal beat top-ranked Roger Federer in Rome to equal Guillermo Vilas' clay-court record 53-match winning streak, and motorcycle racer Dani Pedrosa won his first MotoGP event at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.


Alonso gave King Juan Carlos a royal ride, burning rubber as they screeched away for a morning lap around the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday. Then, in the afternoon with the king watching, Alonso became the first Spaniard to win the Spanish Grand Prix.


Alonso wasn't challenged as he won in front of more than 131,000 fans and received the trophy from the Spanish king. It was Alonso's 11th career victory and third this season, after finishing second to Michael Schumacher in the last two races.


Competing in his homeland for the first time as F1's defending champion, Alonso took the lead on the first turn and pulled away.

At the finish after 66 laps, Schumacher was 18.5 seconds behind in second place, followed by Alonso's Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella in third, and Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa in fourth.

"It was fantastic, a day difficult to forget," Alonso said. "The thing to remember today is a little bit of everything. The lap I did with the king in the normal car (before the race) with all the people enjoying and see us together.

"Then the start, the first laps. Every time Michael was coming out of the pits behind me and the people realized I was still leading the race. Everything blue in the grandstand, moving and jumping."

Blue and yellow are Renault's team colors, and light blue is in the flag of Oviedo in Alonso's home Asturias region. Thousands of fans wore light blue shirts and were wrapped in light blue flags.


"To race here and in front of an all-blue grandstand - it is different," Alonso said.


By the 15th lap, he led by nearly 10 seconds. The Renault-Ferrari foursome pulled away from the rest of the field, and Kimi Raikkonen fell 25 seconds behind in his McLaren-Mercedes.

"It was simply not possible to keep up with the Renaults and Ferraris this weekend,"

Raikkonen said.


Schumacher moved ahead of Fisichella after the first pit stop after 25 laps but failed to close the gap on Alonso for the rest of the way.

"I had to give it up after my last pit stop and drive it home from there,"

Schumacher said.


Alonso, meanwhile, was celebrating in his car.

"The last 5-6 laps I saw Michael slowing down, not pushing," Alonso said. "When you are leading over 10 seconds, you want to finish the race already."

Alonso leads the drivers' standings after six of 18 races with 54 points, followed by Schumacher with 39.


Source: SALVATORE ZANCA, Associated Press