Fernando Alonso believes he is in pole position to take the world championship after winning the European Grand Prix - thanks to Kimi Raikkonen's last-lap agony at the Nurburgring.
Alonso was hunting down Raikkonen in the closing stages as the McLaren driver struggled with a tyre problem, but looked to have missed out when he started the last lap over a second behind.
But just a few yards later Raikkonen's suspension failed as a result of vibrations from his ruined tyre, pitching the Finn into the tyre barriers and handing Alonso his fourth win of the season.
Alonso believes his pace forced Raikkonen to push too hard and wear out his tyres, claiming Renault are once again the team to beat after two races of McLaren supremacy.
He said: "We were pushing McLaren and Kimi so hard until the point that they had a failure in the tyres.
"We were very lucky, but at the same point we were also very strong and able to push them like at the beginning of the season, not like the last two races."
The 23-year-old Spaniard is convinced that he has the right car to defend his 32-point championship lead over Raikkonen in the remaining 12 races.
"We are in the first half of the championship and I think the second half will be much more important for the fight for the title," he added. "It is true that in every race we have scored points and only in Monaco was I off the podium.
"If we keep this consistency it's normal that at the end we will have a bigger and bigger points gap. This will be good news for us if we want to fight for the title this year - and it seems we can do it."
McLaren chief Ron Dennis was unrepentant after ordering Raikkonen to struggle on with his damaged rubber rather than pit for a new tyre.
Even though routine tyre changes are banned, Raikkonen could have pitted for new rubber on safety grounds, but Dennis shunned that option, preferring to gamble on a victory.
Raikkonen would have dropped to third had he taken an extra pit stop, falling behind Alonso and second-placed finisher Nick Heidfeld's Williams, but Dennis discounted the cautious approach.
He said: "Obviously that phenomenal vibration overloaded some suspension component. I discussed it after the race with Kimi and he is comfortable we took the right decision.
"Coming third with Alonso winning would of course have been better than what we had, but we are fighting for the championship and winning is what we want to do. We took a calculated risk and paid the price."
Raikkonen's last-lap crash elevated Rubens Barrichello to third place. He enjoyed a battling drive from seventh on the grid to earn a morale-boosting podium for Ferrari, who saw Michael Schumacher caught up in a first-corner crash on his way to fifth.
David Coulthard was denied Red Bull's first-ever podium finish by a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
The Scotsman would have been certain of third but he dropped to fourth as a result of the punishment.
Jenson Button's return after a two-race ban for BAR-Honda was disappointing and he still has no points on the board in 2005 after finishing 10th.
