Formula One defending champion Fernando Alonso won the British Grand Prix on Sunday, his third straight victory and fifth overall this season.

The Spaniard led all the way after starting on pole position to record his 13th career win for Renault.

Michael Schumacher of Ferrari was second and McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen took third, his fourth straight podium finish without a victory.

Alonso — who also won races in Monaco and Spain last month — leads the standings with 74 points. Schumacher is second with 51, while Raikkonen is third with 33 points after eight rounds.

Alonso, Raikkonen and Schumacher — the top three in order — moved away from the rest of the field until the 18th lap when Schumacher pitted first.

Alonso has his first pit stop four laps later as he increased his lead over Raikkonen to more than 10 seconds. Schumacher was 12 seconds back.

Halfway through the race, Alonso led by nearly 13 seconds over Raikkonen with Schumacher another second back. Giancarlo Fisichella of Renault was fourth, ahead of fifth-place Felipe Massa of Ferrari.

Schumacher overtook Raikkonen on the second pit stop, but he still trailed Alonso by 11 seconds with 15 laps to race.

Fisichella finished fourth and Massa fifth, with 2005 British GP winner Juan Pablo Montoya of McLaren in sixth place. Jenson Button's race ended on the ninth lap when the engine in his Honda caught fire, extending his winless streak to 110 races.
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(AP via CRI June 12, 2006)