Alonso's pit crew should hang heads in shame after China fiasco

Quite some race in Shanghai, wasn't it? By now the teams will have upped sticks and headed to Japan for the penultimate round. But the dramatic turns of the Chinese Grand Prix will still be reverberating among the teams.

Ferrari didn't win the race, Renault threw it away. Fernando Alonso was the best driver on show at Shanghai but his pit stops were the worst of the race by some way.

Up to now it has been Honda who have had the reputation for having the most accident-prone pit stops this season.

Lollipop men lifting too soon and cars driving off the pit lane with half the refuelling rig attached, and tyres that just don't do the job. But Renault take the crown now, not just the pit crew, but those on the pit wall, too.

The first stop saw Alonso forced to put on new intermediate tyres at the front that just didn't work. Everyone else on the track was able to stick with wearing intermediates as the track dried out. As a result, Alonso looked like he was going backwards. When your teammate is catching you as fast as Schumacher, you know it's bad.

Then it was the pit crews' turn to foul up. Nineteen seconds stationary as a nut on one wheel refuses to go on is not good. Alonso could have recovered from the first mistake but there was no coming back from that, despite posting fastest lap after fastest lap.