“We had the pace to recover,” a delighted Alonso told Niki Lauda on the podium.

Defending champion and 2011 Monza winner Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, has sunk from second in the standings to just fourth; the Red Bull driver’s race collapsing with a penalty for forcing Alonso wide, and then ending completely with another alternator failure.

Other title challengers Mark Webber and Jenson Button also failed to finish on Sunday, leaving Kimi Raikkonen now third in the drivers’ standings with seven races to go.