Alonso leads home McLaren one-two
Sepang : The race


The 56-lap Malaysian Grand Prix saw Fernando Alonso secure his first win with the McLaren Mercedes team in a race that saw the action on the first lap very much contribute to his success. The defending champion started in second position behind Felipe Massa but a poor run into turn one and then turn two saw Massa shuffled back to third position as Alonso and Lewis Hamilton snatched the advantage from the Ferrari driver.

With Alonso suddenly in the lead he took advantage of the clear air and quickly pulled out a significant advantage over Hamilton, something he would maintain and then extend in the final stages to take McLaren’s first win since 2005. Significantly, Alonso now takes the lead in the championship standings.

Hamilton found himself under extreme pressure in the opening laps from Massa, but pole-sitter would prove to be a little too impatient as he had a stab down the inside into turn four. With the brakes locked up the Ferrari slid off the track and through went Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld.

The pole-sitter would never really recover and drove a scruffy race to finish in fifth position. Hamilton meanwhile gained a good ten seconds over Raikkonen during the first round of pitstops as Raikkonen found himself stuck behind Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault after his first stop. The final stint of the race however saw Hamilton struggling for speed and lap after lap Raikkonen would gain half a second on his rival.

It was a classic finish to the Malaysian Grand Prix with Hamilton defending as he started the final lap and Raikkonen giving everything to try and claim the runner-up position. Hamilton held and Raikkonen shadowed him across the line to take third in his Ferrari.

It was a great performance from Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen while Nick Heidfeld also had a great race in his BMW Sauber to take fourth position. Under pressure for much of the race from Massa’s Ferrari, Heidfeld did not a wheel wrong and crossed the line three seconds ahead of the Brazilian.

For Massa, it was a poor race with his tardy defending at the first and second turns, his error whilst pushing for second position and then finally a lacklustre run behind Heidfeld to fifth position.

Renault struggled in qualifying with Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen starting 11th and 12th. A good from Fisichella saw the Renault driver run eighth into the first turn and following problems from Robert Kubica and the retirement of Nico Rosberg, Fisichella took the chequered flag in sixth position.

Heikki Kovalainen had a much better race than his poor Melbourne debut and while there were still small errors, he took the chequered flag in eighth position to claim his first championship point.

It was a tough race for the Toyota team as Jarno Trulli lost out to the fast starting Renault’s and was forced to follow for the next 56 laps. Trulli would finish in seventh position while Ralf Schumacher had a torrid event and finished a disappointing 15th from ninth on the grid.

Alex Wurz started the Grand Prix back in 19th position and proved happy to battle from the outset. The Williams driver worked his way through the field and while he would finish ninth and out of the points, it was a very strong drive following his qualifying disappointments. For team-mate Nico Rosberg, it was a case of heartbreak as he pushed hard all day only to retire in the closing stages whilst on target for an impressive sixth position.

It was a difficult day for Red Bull Renault with David Coulthard retiring mid-race and Mark Webber finishing the race where he started in tenth position.

Honda meanwhile proved reliable if not much else with Rubens Barrichello working his way from the back of the field to finish a lap down in 11th ahead of team-mate Jenson Button who once again struggled more than his team-mate for race pace.

It was a low-key race for Super Aguri Honda with Takuma Sato finishing 13th, three positions ahead of team-mate Anthony Davidson. In between, Scott Speed survived a bump from Toro Rosso team-mate in the opening laps and finished 14th ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Davidson. Liuzzi pitted for a new front wing after clipping Speed into the final turn and would finish 17th ahead of Robert Kubica who has a catalogue of problems in the race.

Spyker Ferrari may have had a new aero package for this race but it meant little as Adrian Sutil crashed out on lap one after a brush with Jenson Button. Christijan Albers would survive another eight laps before a gearbox issue forced him to the pits and retirement.

Two races and two winners as the field packs up for next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.