Alonso wins action-packed European Grand Prix

Defending champion Alonso overtook Ferrari's Felipe Massa with five laps remaining to secure victory while Red Bull's Mark Webber took third to claim his first podium finish of the season.

Massa was seen to exchange angry words with Alonso after the race over the overtaking incident, but the Spaniard waved him away. In the press conference Massa then downplayed the incident.

"It is just something that happens. If other people want to make a lot out of it, then that is their problem."

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was forced to retire with technical problems while championship leader Lewis Hamilton of McLaren finished out of the points in ninth spot after having to be lifted out of a gravel pit early on in the race.

Hamilton retains the lead in the drivers' standings with 70 points but is now only two points clear of Alonso. Massa moves up to third on 59 with Raikkonen now fourth on 52 points.

A torrential downpour at the start of the race eventually led to the race being red flagged, but not before an action-packed couple of laps where drivers poured into the pits to change to intermediate tyres.

However, even intermediates proved inadequate in the heavy rain as Hamilton, Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil and both Toro Rossos all slid off the track at turn one, with Vitantonio Liuzzi nearly colliding with the safety car in the process.

The BMW-Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld tangled with each other in the first lap, causing Kubica's car to clip Hamilton while Raikkonen, who started from pole but on dry tyres, missed the pit lane at the end of lap one.

Some did benefit from the chaos, including Red Bull's David Coulthard, who jumped from 20th to fifth and especially Spyker's Markus Winkelhock, who found himself leading on his F1 debut thanks to the wise move of starting from the pit lane on intermediate tyres.

Meanwhile, Hamilton rejoined only to slide off in the rain but his McLaren was subsequently lifted from the gravel and as the championship leader had kept his engine running he was able to return to the race although from 17th place and a lap down.

Winkelhock restarted the race from the front of the grid behind the safety car. Massa began from second on the rolling start, followed by Alonso with Raikkonen seventh.

Hamilton was allowed to overtake the field and safety car to unlap himself. The McLaren driver then pitted and returned with dry tyres while Massa and Alonso promptly overtook the slower Winkelhock within a lap of the safety car moving in.

Hamilton's risky tactic failed to pay off as he struggled badly with his tyres and the Briton lost further ground.

But with the circuit slowly drying out Raikkonen pitted with 49 laps remaining to change to slicks. Massa and Alonso did likewise a lap later and once Red Bull's Coulthard, who restarted from fifth, and BMW-Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld pitted, Raikkonen found himself up in third spot.

The race finally settled down a little with the Finn slowly closing the gap on Alonso as Massa pulled away from the Spaniard.

But Raikkonen's race ended with 26 laps remaining as his Ferrari stuttered to an eventual halt, meaning Red Bull's Mark Webber moved up to third.

Alonso was the first of the leading duo to pit and was promptly followed by Massa who made his third and what the Brazilian thought was his final pitstop.

But another rain shower saw the pair pit again on lap 54 to switch back to intermediates and Alonso managed to overtake Massa to secure an unlikely win.

Alonso said that he was surprised that he had managed to close in on Massa so easily. "I thought at first the Ferrari was faster, but we managed to close in on them and then everything went our way."

Massa too, said he was surprised. "I saw the McLaren come towards me and there was nothing I could do. It was just too fast and then he went past. The rain made it very difficult in the beginning and all the cars were struggling."

Webber held off Alexander Wurz while Coulthard completed a fine day for Red Bull with a fifth-place finish. Heidfeld won the battle with team-mate Kubica for sixth spot while Renault's Heiki Kovaleinen claimed the final points place in eighth.

Webber admitted that he had been helped to third place by the rain. "But at the end all that really matters is the finish and we got some points today, so we are very happy. We will gladly take them," he said.

The next F1 race is the Hungarian GP on August 5 in Budapest. dpa