The new McLaren driving team of Fernando Alonso and debutant Lewis Hamilton scored a dominant one-two in the boiling hot Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang near Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. Although the pair's fortunes ebbed and flowed, they were never seriously challenged after Ferrari's pole-winning Felipe Massa twice outbraked himself trying to overtake Hamilton and dropped to an eventual fifth place, although his team mate Kimi Raikkonen again finished on the podium, this time in third place with BMW's Nick Heidfeld again putting in a consistent performance for fourth place.

An estimated 115,000 spectators gathered in 34 degrees heat to see Alonso make a great start from second on the grid and out-brake Massa into the first corner. Hamilton came up to third place from fourth, relegating Raikkonen to that position before the two BMW Saubers of Heidfeld and Robert Kubica who came together in the first corner.

But Hamilton soon managed to move up to second with Massa eager to get his place back. On lap five, the Brazilian managed to get past the English driver only to run wide and for Hamilton to take his place back. Massa did the same thing on the next lap but went even wider still, taking to the grass and being overtaken by Hamilton, Raikkonen and Heidfeld.

The pattern of the race was set from that moment onwards. Alonso pulled away at a second lap so that he was ten seconds ahead by lap ten. Hamilton had his mirrors full of Raikkonen and the pair gradually pulled away from Heidfeld, who was soon shadowed by Massa. Next up was Kubica pushed by Nico Rosberg, but the BMW Sauber was obviously in trouble and was brought into the pits twice, eventually for a new nose section which had been damaged at the first corner. Giancarlo Fisichella took over seventh place, pushed by Jarno Trulli.

Massa was the first of the leaders to pit on lap 17, followed by Alonso and Raikkonen on lap 18, then Rosberg on lap 19, Hamilton and lap later, and then Heidfeld on lap 22. The pit stops saw the gap between the McLarens shrink by five seconds to ten seconds, and in that second stint, it actually came down even more to 7.7s as Alonso struggled with backmarkers. At the same time, Raikkonen dropped back from second placed Hamilton to 12s by the second stop. Heidfeld's late first stop saw him close to 4.1s of the Ferrari but that doubled in the middle stint, although he was caught by Massa just before they pitted.

Hamilton was the first front runner to stop on lap 38 with Rosberg. Alonso and Massa stopped on lap 40, Raikkonen a lap later and then Heidfeld on lap 41. The stops opened up Alonso's lead to 14s again, while Raikkonen was 7.7s behind Hamilton. Heidfeld was a further 12s behind and then came Massa, just 1.4s behind. Rosberg had pulled off the circuit, so Fisichella was a distance sixth from Trulli and then Kovalainen.

In the last stint, Raikkonen steadily reeled in Hamilton at about half a second a lap but just couldn't quite get close enough, being 0.8s behind at the flag. Alonso, however, had been 22s in the lead but lost five seconds on the last lap. Heidfeld finished fourth for the second race running from Massa in fifth whose challenged faded in the closing stages. Fisichella finished sixth. After the race, Raikkonen revealed that "we had to make some compromises on the car that meant we were unable to exploit its full potential", although the restricted engine settings only cost the team around a tenth of a second lap.

Jean Todt: "This is definitely a disappointing result. After a great qualifying yesterday, with Felipe on pole and Kimi third, we certainly expected better.
 

"Unfortunately, we have had to settle for a third and a fifth place from Kimi and Felipe respectively. The crucial points for getting a race win are grid position, the start, the strategy, reliability and obviously, the performance of the cars. Today, we did not manage a good start with Felipe, who later, in an effort to catch up, went off track and dropped to fifth place, thus compromising his race. Kimi was also overtaken at the start and from then on was unable to do anything about it. In the end, we got both cars home but the ten points we got are definitely cause for satisfaction. We know we are up against a very strong and battle ready opponent who did a better job than us today. Fortunately, in just one week's time we get the chance to make up for it at Sakhir. We will do all we can there to get the best possible result."

Kimi Raikkonen: "A day of mixed feelings. On the one hand I am happy to have picked up six points, on the other, I am disappointed that the race did not live up to my expectations. This weekend we had to make some compromises on the car and that meant we were unable to exploit its full potential. Today we lacked a bit of speed when up against our main rivals. I repeat that I'm a bit disappointed but I am also aware this is just the beginning of the season and that these points will definitely be important for the championship as it evolves. The team did a good job, given all the uncertainties we had. We have to try and improve to get one hundred percent out of all the elements of the package. The first corner? Fernando and Lewis were just better than us."

Felipe Massa: "It was a very tough race in which we suffered a lot. It was almost impossible to overtake. I tried to attack Lewis, but I made a mistake and ended up off the track. I cannot blame myself for trying and next time things will go better. The race we did not go the way we had expected and our pace was slower than we had expected. Now, we have to find out why and work to improve the situation in the coming races. But it was still important to have got the car to the flag as it is vital to always score points."

Luca Baldisserri: "There is no point in denying that we are disappointed. Our performance level was definitely lower than expected and lower than what we had seen in testing last week as well as on Friday and Saturday. We will have to take a very close look at what happened. Of course the start played a big part in the way the race evolved. Felipe did not make the most of pole and then he was unlucky when trying to pass Hamilton, going off the track, but more critically, losing vital position. The fact that the performance gap between the cars in the race was not as great as we had expected made the situation more complicated, also when taking into account our strategies. Both Kimi and Felipe spent a lot of time in traffic and were thus unable to get the most out of their cars. But we can be pleased about getting both cars to the finish, given the uncertainties the day before. But we now have to work on ensuring that all elements of the package are operating at their maximum."

Malaysian Grand Prix: Kimi Raikkonen: 3rd +18.339 56 laps chassis 261; Felipe Massa: 5th +36.705 56 laps chassis 260; Weather: air temperature 36/35°C, track temperature 53/50°C, dry track, clear skies