Fernando Alonso tightened his suffocating grip on a second world championship with a consummate display at Montreal to end his North American jinx.

The Enstone-based Renault driver, who lives in Oxford, kept his cool when plenty around were losing theirs to defy difficult track conditions and win for the sixth time this season, extending his championship lead to 25 points.

He comfortably bettered his previous best of fourth in Montreal and confessed his delight at finally winning for the first time in North America.

He said: "It is fantastic for me again. All the victories are nice but this one particularly after the last two or three years having the opportunity to win and something happening.

"This is one of the races that we should have won in the previous years and now we have it."

Dust and tyre debris littered the track by the chequered flag and contributed to several high-profile mistakes, including a costly one from Kimi Raikkonen on the penultimate lap.

The McLaren driver ran wide at the hairpin to allow Michael Schumacher through for a second place which he considered a good return from a damage limitation exercise.

"We kept the damage as small as possible," said the Ferrari driver, who dropped just two points on Alonso despite trailing in seventh place early on.

"We didn't have a perfect weekend, but we managed to get a result so we go from here."