Fernando Alonso hailed his victory in the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix as his "best win in F1 so far".
He started behind Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren on the grid and swept into the lead before the Finn retired on lap nine. Alonso then began to build a comfortable lead and was as much as 30 seconds clear before Michael Schumacher reeled off fastest lap after fastest lap to eat steadily into his lead. In a gripping end to the race, Alonso won by just 0.2 seconds with Schumacher swarming all over his gearbox. In victory, Alonso extended his lead in the championship to 16 points over Jarno Trulli.
1934
English racing driver Mike Taylor was born. His racing career effectively ended when his steering column-weld failed on his Lotus 18 in the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix at 160 mph. He was thrown from the car, breaking several bones and resulting in paralysis although he later learned to walk again. Because of his car failure, Taylor later sued Lotus successfully, one of the few successful actions against the makers of a racing car.
1932
Luigi Fagioli in a Maserati won the Rome GP at an average speed of 98.6mph, leading from the off and never seriously being challenged.
1954
French racing driver Guy Mairesse was killed in practice for the Coupe de Paris at Montlhéry in 1954 when he swerved to avoid another car and crashed into a concrete wall. He participated in three grands prix from 1950 but scored no championship points.
1941
Swiss racing driver Silvio Moser was born. He built his reputation in Formula 2 and sports car racing and made his Formula One on July 15, 1967 with a privately-entered Brabham. He participated in 19 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. Moser died from severe injuries after an accident driving his Lola-BMW in the 1,000 km sports car race at Monza.
