Wednesday, October 1 2008 -- When the going got tough, Fernando Alonso pulled one out of the hat. In one of the most anticipated races of the season, the Renault F1 team driver took complete advantage of his teammate, Nelson Piquet's accident on Lap 14 and ran through to take the chequered flag. The race began quite the way Qualifying had ended, with Felipe Massa stretching his lead over Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Alonso, meanwhile, had stopped quickly after a fast beginning to the race and thus, fell far behind the pack. What happened next, changed the course of the entire race. The safety car came out when Nelson Piquet crashed into the walls and the safety car came onto the tracks. Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg dived into the pits before the pit lane was officially opened. Not just that, Filipe Massa's pit-stop left his race in disarray. Massa got the signal to move out of the pits but the light had come on before the fuel hose was released. Massa towed the line and fuel sprayed all over the place. As if that wasn't enough, Massa exit from the pitlane, in front of Adrian Sutil, was deemed a dangerous maneuver and a drive-through penalty was ordered for the now, "ex" race leader.

Kubica and Rosberg also dove into the pits to serve their 10-second stop-&-go penalties. Although Kubica's race was all but over, Rosberg did manage to stay in it. Lewis Hamilton had to contend being behind Alonso, Rosberg, Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella along with Mark Webber and David Coulthard, after being unable to find a way out before the entire horde came in for pit-stops.

Massa spun in the 51st lap and Sutil, who was temporarily unsighted, crashed but the safety car coming out couldn't help Hamilton regain the lead. Raikkonen crashed when battling for fourth place even though he had the option of collecting the six points and staying in the championship lead.

But after the weekend, it was Alonso who came out smiling after he got his first win since the Monza Grand Prix in 2007. Renault were also grinning after they had their first taste of victory since the Japanese Grand Prix in 2006.