A rare Ferrari engine failure prompted Schumacher to admit his bid for an eighth driver's title is "over." (LAT Photo) » More Photos

On lap 20, the right-rear suspension on Christijan Albers' Spyker-MF1 collapsed spectacularly, with the lost wheel tearing off the rear wing and splattering carbon fiber pieces all over the track. Only a local yellow was needed to clear up the incident, however, as Albers somewhat managed to escape a spin and take his three-wheeled machine back to the pits.

The race proceeded on waiting mode until the 35th lap, when Alonso and Massa pitted simultaneously. Then, just as Schumacher began his characteristic push for two flying laps ahead of his final stop, the V8 mill on his 248 F1 expired in a cloud of white smoke, not unlike Alonso's RS26 V8 had done a fortnight ago in the Italian GP at Monza, tying the 2006 engine-failure tally for the two season protagonists at one apiece.

From then on, Alonso's cruise to his seventh '06 win and the 15th of his career went on unimpeded. A sizable crash by Williams' Mark Webber entering the front straight on lap 40 was Massa's last hope for closing the gap of over 10 seconds separating him from the Spaniard, but eventually no safety car was deployed to clear the scene.

After 50 laps, Alonso crossed the finish line 15.3 seconds ahead of Massa, with Fisichella completing the podium to help Renault to open a nine-point edge over Ferrari in the constructor's championship. Button was fourth, ahead of McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, who made a strong comeback from 11th on the grid. Trulli, Ralf and Heidfeld brought home the remaining points, while American Scott Speed was credited with the 17th finishing position after retiring with three laps to go.

"At the beginning of the race I knew that we were not in good shape but we were competitive, as good as Ferrari," Alonso said afterwards. "The car's performance was really consistent and really well balanced and after Michael's problems the race became easy for us.

"The second stint with Michael the gap was more or less the same, 5.9, six seconds depending on traffic. And I was thinking it was possible to win the race, why not? We were only halfway through the race and five seconds behind, which was a surprise.

"I had so many problems in the last races. I lost a race in Hungary, I lost an engine in Monza so for sure I had to recover some lucky moment. I didn't believe what a I was seeing, also to see a mechanical problem from a Ferrari car is not something it happens often, so it was the second surprise, the biggest surprise for me."

With only the Brazilian GP in two weeks' time left, Alonso now counts 126 points versus Schumacher's 116, and the only possible scenario for the German to conquer his eighth career title in what will be his final race before retirement is to win at Interlagos with Alonso failing to score. Any other result combination will give the Spaniard a perfect farewell from Renault, clinching his second consecutive championship before taking off to McLaren for the 2007 campaign.

"The drivers' title for me is finished, but we go to Brazil to win the constructors'," Schumacher conceded after the race, before getting philosophical:

"Today we all tried hard; we were first but lost the engine. That's Formula 1. I'm not very disappointed. Life and racing are like this..."

Japanese Grand Prix results.