Narain Karthikeyan of Jordan in action during the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka on Sunday. The Indian finished in 1:: 29:51.967. (AFP)

Suzuka: McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen conjured up one of Formula One’s great drives on Sunday to seize victory on the last lap of a thrilling Japanese Grand Prix after starting 17th.

Yet on another bittersweet afternoon for his team, the Finn’s heroics failed to prevent rivals Renault from recapturing the lead in the constructors’ championship with Renault taking second and third place with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and newly-crowned champion Fernando Alonso, respectively, to move two points clear of McLaren after starting the day two points behind.

Alonso, the 24-year-old Spaniard who became the sport’s youngest champion two weeks ago, was also outstanding in overtaking Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher not once but twice after starting 16th.He has 123 points to Raikkonen’s 104, but the Finn now has seven victories to Alonso’s six.

Australian Mark Webber finished fourth in a Williams, ahead of Briton Jenson Button for BAR and compatriot David Coulthard in a Red Bull.

Seven-time champion Schumacher was seventh with brother Ralf, who started on pole for Toyota, taking the final point. This was McLaren’s sixth win in a row, and 10th of the season, followed a nail-biting finale with ‘The Iceman’ emerging from his final pitstop to hunt down Fisichella and power past round the outside of turn one on the final lap.

India’s Narain Karthikeyan could not make his best qualifying race count to finish a disappointing 16th.

“It was a much more difficult win than any of my others but it’s nicer when you really have to fight for it,” said Raikkonen of a victory that ended Ferrari’s run of five in a row at Suzuka.

Renault have 176 points to McLaren’s 174 while Ferrari, champions for the past six years, secured third place.

The action-packed afternoon, full of overtaking and suspense, turned into a show of strength from a team fighting a rearguard action after heavy rain in Saturday qualifying wrecked their hopes of a front-row start.

They suffered a further blow after one lap when Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya piled into the tyre barrier after a coming together with Jacques Villeneuve’s Sauber.

The incident brought out the safety car until lap eight as marshals cleared Montoya’s wrecked car from the edge of the track. Villeneuve was demoted from 11th to 12th place in the official results after a 25-second penalty.

BAR’s Japanese driver Takuma Sato was excluded after shunting out Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, less than a month since he did the same thing to Michael Schumacher in Belgium.

“What Sato did is just not on. It was reckless,” said Toyota team boss Tsutomu Tomita. “I’m all in favour of aggressive driving but Sato goes way beyond what is acceptable.

“You have to abide by the rules. He goes beyond being enthusiastic. It’s flat-out dangerous.”

Raikkonen stayed out of trouble but only just after a chaotic first lap that saw Sato and Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello run off into the gravel with the Japanese having to pit for a new front wing.

The Finn said he and Montoya had touched rear tyres at the first corner as the Colombian, starting 18th, muscled through.

The lead changed hands repeatedly, with Ralf at the front until he pitted on lap 13. That allowed Fisichella, who had passed Button at the start, to take the lead until lap 21 when he refuelled and handed over to the Briton.

Coulthard, accused by Webber of jumping the start, led for a lap with Michael Schumacher also in front briefly.