Twenty years ago, Fernando Alonso secured a thrilling victory over Michael Schumacher in the Renault R25 - a car that secured the 2005 World Championship for the Enstone team.

On the eve of the anniversary, we look back on that epic race win for Renault, the team that Alpine was formerly known as.

The Imola weekend was all about Alonso and Schumacher. Qualifying second, the Renault team opted to keep in the back of his car the engine from the furnace of Bahrain, rather than take a ten-place grid penalty. It meant Fernando had to run limited laps in practice and reduced revs in the race, but overtaking at the narrow Emilia-Romagna venue is difficult at the best of times.

Schumacher had started 13th, after going off the track in qualifying. At one stage of the race, he was stuck in tenth, over 30s behind the leader. But once in clear air, he started running two seconds a lap faster and began to hunt down the iconic blue and yellow Renault out front.

Despite Schumacher’s late stop and faster car at the end of the race, the 23-year-old Fernando never put a wheel out of place - and held on for 13 laps despite immense pressure. “I knew Michael’s car was at least a second a lap quicker than mine,” said Alonso. “So it was a matter of not making mistakes.”

Fernando crossed the line just 0.215s ahead of the Ferrari, symbolising an end to Maranello’s years of dominance and setting up the first of his two World Championships in a brilliant period of success for the Enstone team. Imola was Renault’s fourth straight win of the year - and the third in a row for Alonso.

The Spaniard hailed his narrow San Marino Grand Prix victory as his “best so far,” adding: “This win was different from all the others. I didn’t have a gap behind me so I had to push all the way. Three in a row is a fantastic feeling.”

One of Fernando’s greatest strengths,” said Team Principal Flavio Briatore at the time, “is that, if something goes wrong, he doesn’t dwell on it. He forgets it, and gets on with the next thing. If he has a problem in qualifying, he’ll say, ‘No problem, the race will be fine…’ And in the race he tries very, very hard. His consistency is fantastic.”

That first race in the European leg of the 2005 season was especially momentous, as the Renault team announced on the eve of Alonso’s victory that Flavio would remain as Team Principal following a one-year extension to his contract. Briatore said in Imola that he was glad to have been given the opportunity to work for longer with the team he had created: “We have a fantastic group of people in this team,” he said. “It’s one where everybody plays their part.”

While the race was a thriller, for those watching in the UK there was controversy as broadcaster ITV cut to commercials during the thrilling climax to the race - infuriating armchair fans. They took a 2m45s break with just three laps of the race remaining, with coverage resuming on the final lap, leading to a deluge of complaints. Although no one at Enstone seemed to mind…