Barcelona, May 14:

Fernando Alonso became the first Spaniard to win the Spanish Grand Prix, winning Sunday’s Formula One race in front of the King Juan Carlos and more than 115,000 fans.

Michael Schumacher was second, followed by Giancarlo Fisichella in third and Felipe Massa in fourth. It was Alonso’s 11th career victory and third this season after finishing second to Schumacher in the last two races. Alonso swerved down the final straightaway in celebration and waved both arms to the crowd.

Competing in his native Spain for the first time, Alonso took the lead on the first turn and started pulling away from Renault teammate Fisichella by clocking the fastest laps each time until the eighth lap.

By that time he had a 5.8-second lead over Fisichella with Schumacher and Massa trailing. It was the two Renaults followed by two Ferraris. Kimi Raikkonen, who won last year’s race, came fifth. The Hondas of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were sixth and seventh, with Nick Heidfeld of BMW-Sauber in eighth.

Alonso leads the drivers’ standings with 54 points from five races, followed by Schumacher with 39.