Associated Press

Hockenheim, July 24:

Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix on Sunday and extended his lead in the Formula

One championship when his closest challenger Kimi Raikkonen went out with a mechanical problem. Raikkonen started from the pole and led comfortably until the 36th lap of the 67-lap race, when his McLaren-Mercedes suddenly stopped on the track. His McLaren-Mercedes teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who started from the back of the grid, charged back to finish second, ahead of Jenson Button in a BAR-Honda. Giancarlo Fisichella, Alfonso’s Renault teammate, came in fourth, ahead of defending world champion Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari. Schumacher surged ahead to third at the start but could not hold on and dropped back to fifth, the place he started from. By collecting 10 points for his sixth victory of the season, Alonso brought his total to 87, with 12 of 19 races completed. Raikkonen stayed in second with 51 points going into next Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.