FIAT DEALERS GARAGES

Race officials said that Vettel left the track as he passed McLaren's Jenson Button on the penultimate lap in a controversial move.

Vettel, who has yet to win his home grand prix and indeed any race in July, went wide as he and the Briton went through a corner side by side. He was handed a 20 second penalty that demoted him to fifth.

Button moved up to second place, ending a run of disappointing performances, and Finland's 2007 Kimi Raikkonen took third for Lotus.

Alonso's win was Ferrari's 219th, the 30th of the Spaniard's career and third of the season.

"That was fantastic again, pole position...victory." he told his team after taking the chequered flag. "Tonight we have some parties at least."

The Ferrari driver now has 154 points to 120 for Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber, who finished eighth. Vettel has 110 after 10 of the season's 20 races.

Button's podium finish was a boost for McLaren, who moved ahead of Lotus into third place in the constructors' standings, but it was soured for the team by Lewis Hamilton suffering a puncture early in his 100th race and having to retire.

Alonso started on pole and held off challenges from Vettel and then Button as he stormed to victory in warm, sunny conditions, a stark contrast from the heavy rain which fell during practice and qualifying.

Alonso, who won on the last occasion a Grand Prix was staged at Hockenheim two years ago, briefly surrendered his lead after the first of his two pit stops but the double champion otherwise dominated the race despite being under intense pressure throughout.

'HARSH' PENALTY

Webber, winner of the previous race at Silverstone, had started eighth after a five place demotion on the starting grid for an unauthorized gearbox change.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said before the decision was announced that a penalty for Vettel would be harsh.

"He goes to the outside under the braking area, he then gets clearly ahead, he gives Jenson room on the right. Jenson runs him out wide and ends up over the kerb himself

"I think it's unfair to say he got an unfair advantage from that. I think it's a racing incident," he told reporters.

"Jenson's actually wheelspinning out of the corner. He's got no traction. I think it would be very harsh to penalize him (Vettel)."

McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh said the rules were clear: "You can't drive off the track and gain an advantage and overtake.

"That's the normal rules of motor racing. We're in the heat of battle and the stewards are the best people to look at that."

Vettel was also angry with Hamilton for trying to overtake him while one lap behind.

"That was not nice of him, I don't see we he's trying to race us, it's stupid to disturb the leaders," said the German, who gesticulated at the McLaren as it went past.

Japan's Kamui Kobayashi finished fourth for Sauber, after Vettel's demotion with Mexican team mate Sergio Perez sixth.

Germany's seven times world champion Michael Schumacher was seventh, ahead of Webber and two more Germans - Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.

(Reporting By Brian Homewood, editing by Alan Baldwin)

With most of the leaders struggling to cope with tricky winds on a warm summer's day at the Royal Lytham & St Annes links, world number 13 Scott was nine under through 13.

While Scott was plotting his way to glory, former world number one Tiger Woods slid out of contention after taking his first triple bogey in a major championship for nine years.

The American pared the first five holes before suffering a calamitous moment at the sixth.

With his ball tight up against the wall of a steep greenside bunker, the 14-times major champion had to take evasive action as it rebounded back towards him following his first attempt to get out.

Woods then sank to his knees perched on the edge of the trap and, with one leg extended to keep his balance, he managed to make a strong contact with his ball which struck the lip of the bunker and squirted out across the green.

The American, who had birdied the sixth in each of his opening three rounds, then missed a 40-foot putt for bogey and a five-footer for double-bogey before gratefully sinking his third attempt.

Woods bounced back immediately by chipping in for a birdie at the seventh.

Two more bogeys at the ninth and 13th then wrecked his chances of ending his four-year victory drought in majors.

Scott hit his tee shot at the short first through the back of the green and was unable to get up and down for his par three.

But he showed he was made of stern stuff when he played the second in imperious fashion, arrowing his approach to within three feet of the pin and sinking his birdie putt.

Scott dropped a stroke at the third and another bogey at the sixth sent him back to nine over par, a position he maintained through the 13th.

Playing partner Graeme McDowell imploded with a run of three straight bogeys around the turn.

The Northern Irishman was left with a face almost as bright as his pink shirt when he shanked an approach shot with his wood at the 11th over the head of the spectators 50 yards away, straight into an unplayable lie in the trees.

Els, a three-times major winner, was playing the best golf of the leading players but missed a host of birdie chances before finally making a forward move by picking up shots at the 12th and 14th.

SUMMER'S DAY

Earlier, Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts took full advantage of a glorious summer's day by ripping up the course to shoot a five-under 65.

The winner of this year's World Match Play Championship in Spain charged through the field to set the pace in the clubhouse on one-under 279.

With the sun beating down on the Lancashire links and the wind not as strong as predicted, Colsaerts seemed hell bent on making up for his previous rounds of 77 and 72 after having started his campaign with a sparkling 65.

The 29-year-old, who comes from a sporting family and had a great grandfather who competed for Belgium at basketball and water polo in the 1920 Olympics, made his intentions clear with a first-hole birdie.

Colsaerts dropped a stroke at the third before reeling off five birdies in an inspired 12-hole run from the fifth.

"It's difficult not to have a smile on my face," he told reporters. "I was quickly under par and gave myself chances a lot of times.

"There were still a few putts that didn't drop but it's great to come down the last couple of holes and have your game on. It was very pleasurable."

World number two Rory McIlroy completed a disappointing week with a 73 for an eight-over-par total of 288 and number three Lee Westwood signed off with a 72 at six over for the tournament.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

The study estimating the extent of global private financial wealth held in offshore accounts - excluding non-financial assets such as real estate, gold, yachts and racehorses - puts the sum at between $21 and $32 trillion.

The research was carried out for pressure group Tax Justice Network, which campaigns against tax havens, by James Henry, former chief economist at consultants McKinsey & Co.

He used data from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations and central banks.

The report also highlights the impact on the balance sheets of 139 developing countries of money held in tax havens by private elites, putting wealth beyond the reach of local tax authorities.

The research estimates that since the 1970s, the richest citizens of these 139 countries had amassed $7.3 to $9.3 trillion of "unrecorded offshore wealth" by 2010.

Private wealth held offshore represents "a huge black hole in the world economy," Henry said in a statement.

(Reporting by Chris Vellacott)