Right from the start, Honda’s Jenson Button gave chase to Fisichella with the Brit taking over the lead on lap 17 when the Italian came in to pit. After two laps, however, Button also pitted in and resumed the chase in second position as Alonso pitted in on lap 26.

On lap 38, both Fisichella and Button pitted in for their second stop giving Alonso the second running position and the chance to do some sizzling laps.

Button rejoined the race just behind McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya and wasn’t able to push really hard until lap 42 when the Colombian pitted. This enabled the Spaniard to pad his lead over Button and give him just enough time to refuel (on lap 42), and still come out on second place as he rejoined the race.

"It was a perfect race for me, but it was very tough physically and mentally. It was really, really hot out there and I began to feel it from mid-race onwards. I knew it would be hard but there was no choice but to push all the way to the end. So I did. I didn’t want to lose concentration in the last laps, and everything went well, the car and engine were perfect too," Fisichella said. "I’m really happy for this win. And I am especially pleased because I am dedicating the win to a friend who died last week, Pietro. To have my race engineer Alan Permane on the podium alongside me was special too."

Meanwhile, Button was quoted as saying, "I’m obviously pleased to see us back on the podium but it was the top step that we had in mind, so we are a little disappointed. We want to be winning races and today showed that we are in the fight, but there is still a lot of work to be done before we can achieve that target."

Montoya finished fourth after a quiet run. However, his team mate, Kimi Raikkonen was forced out of the race during the first lap after rubbing wheels with Red Bull’s Christian Klien. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, on the other hand, capitalized on his single-stop strategy to score his first ever points for Ferrari by finishing fifth. He was closely followed by team mate Michael Schumacher.

Seventh place went to Jacques Villeneuve of BMW Sauber, with Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota taking eight place.

Jarno Trulli finished ninth place as he struggled for pace throughout the race after a first-corner bump left his car with a broken diffuser. Behind him was the Honda of Rubens Barrichello, who was slapped a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Torro Rosso’s Tonio Liuzzi started the race with incorrect downforce settings and opted to stop for a front wing adjustment on the opening lap. He then fought his way up to an 11th place finish after battling it out with Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri and Christijan Albers.

Alonso now leads the driver’s championship with 18 points followed by Michael Schumacher’s 11. Renault now enjoys a 13 point lead over second placer, Ferrari in the constructor’s championship.