Alonso wins, closes gap on Hamilton

Fernando Alonso won the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, beating Lewis Hamilton and closing in to within three points of his McLaren teammate...

Fernando Alonso won the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, beating Lewis Hamilton and closing in to within three points of his McLaren teammate at the top of the drivers’ standings.

Hamilton leads the standings with 92 points, while Alonso has 89. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who finished third Sunday, is third with 74 points.

Alonso, the two-time defending Formula One champion, beat Hamilton by more than six seconds at the 5.793-kilometer (3.6-mile) Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. Alonso completed 53 laps in 1 hour, 18 minutes, 37.806 sec.

Meanwhile, McLaren lashed out at Italian authorities Sunday — hours before the Italian GP—after the Formula One team was notified that it was being investigated in a criminal inquiry into the Ferrari spy case.

“McLaren did receive some contact from the Italian authorities yesterday but was not charged with anything,” McLaren said in a statement.

“We strongly suspect that the nature and timing of this wholly unnecessary contact, just before the start of qualifying, was to disrupt our preparation for Thursday’s World Motor Sports Council hearing,” they added.