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CUE THE FAT LADY; Ferrari engine failure puts Fernando Alonso in control.(Motorsports)
Byline: ALAN HENRY
The moment was full of symbolism and pathos. One instant the in-car camera showed Michael Schumacher's towering genius as he nonchalantly took his right hand off his Ferrari's steering wheel-in the middle of a 160-mph corner-to adjust some settings via his Ferrari's controls. The next moment he slowed ominously, looking for somewhere to park his crippled machine.
Schumacher's hopes of ending his glittering career with a record eighth world championship suffered a massive blow when the Ferrari's engine failed. Schumacher was nursing an 8.8-second lead over championship rival Fernando Alonso's Renault R26 with just 16 of 53 laps remaining when the Ferrari suddenly slowed and emitted a thin trail of telltale blue smoke on the approach to the fourth-gear Degner Curve.
Until then, Schumacher seemed set to cruise to the win in what was (at least for now) the last Japanese Grand Prix held at the spectacular Suzuka circuit near Nagoya. "The world championship is lost,'' he admitted afterward. "I don't want to head off for the final race [in Brazil] hoping that my rival has to retire. That is not the way I want to win the title.''
Ferrari engineers refused to speculate about what might have caused the blowup that probably destroyed Schumacher's world championship challenge. To secure the title, he needs to win the season finale in Brazil while Alonso, who now leads him by 10 points, must not score a point. That is unlikely but not impossible, as Ferrari demonstrated in Japan. If it happens, Schumacher will be champion by virtue of winning one more race than Alonso.
"Incidents like today's can happen, and they are part of racing,'' a pragmatic Schumacher said. "Today I did my best, I was leading the race, and then my engine broke. That is the simplest way to sum it up. This is Formula One.
"We can be proud of what we have achieved since Canada. We were 25 points behind, and no one could have thought we would be back in the fight for the championship, but we did it. Now we are nine points down in the constructors' championship, and we will do all we can to win this title in Brazil.''
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