ALONSO AND HAMILTON 1-2 IN MALAYSIA
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I guess we're now used to the F1 show coming to Malaysia at this time of year. And three weeks was certainly enough time for fans to get used to the implications of events in Australia. Three weeks was certainly enough time for the drivers to chill out. It should have been enough time for teams to sort out any major problem. Word was coming into Kualar Lumpar though that this was not the case at Honda. Both Jenson and Barrichello were still complaining about the car.
In qualifying...well Davidson got a reality check in round 1 and Barrichello didn't fare much better. DC made round 2 for the first time this season and outqualified both Sato and Jenson though none of them made the top ten, DC starting 13th, Jenson 15th. Neither Renault made round 3 either so the fight for pole was expected to be Ferrari again. Hamilton had his chances but it came down to an explosion of fast times in the final minute, first Raikonen, then Alonso before Massa burst in to claim his first pole of the season, Lewis settling for fourth on the grid.
Well DC made it up to 12th at the start before falling back to 13th after getting overtaken by Wurz. However late pit stops allowed him to challenge for points for a time, getting as a high as 7th at one point! While this suggests that the Scotsman might yet have his moments in '07, Malaysia certainly won't go down as one of them. Like in Oz, he failed to finish the race, this time due to his brake pedal winding up out of position! Not quite the strangest way to go out of a motor race but certainly the strangest one I've heard for a bit.
Jenson didn't have a top quality race either. It wasn't long before Barrichello was able to overtake him and get past him though at least Jenson was able to retake his more experienced teammate...even if the Brazilian did go on to finish ahead of him. Neither Honda had exactly a stellar race though, the best thing that can be said about the '07 Honda is that it can finish a race. It can't do much else, though Jenson's final position of 12th was an improvement on Oz. However, anyone that had put money on him winning the title this year had better be praying for a miracle in Bahrain! What a difference a year makes.
So it was up to Lewis to grab the headlines again and he was happy to pick up from where he left off, overtaking both Ferraris at the start. How do you keep two angry red cars behind you, with a fair degree of stubbornness. Massa was the guy on the hot rookie's heels and the start, but was unable to make any chance stick and finally went off road. During pit stops the Brit led for a few laps but always looked headed for second...only to slow significantly in the last part of the race, allowing Raikonen right back on him but with a lap to go the rookie finally found a last burst of speed to better his debut third place with second place in his second try at Formula 1 ever! This is the best start to any rookie(let alone Brit) year that I can remember!
Not that Alonso would have cared about all that. All he needed to know was that his teammate was keeping the Ferrari's behind him which meant that the reigning World Champion, after making it past Massa at the start, was free to run and hide. Even a busted radio couldn't ruin his race and nothing else was going to stop the Spaniard crossing the line for his first win of the year and first for McLaren. Ron Dennis would also have been bouncing out of Malaysia, it was the first McLaren 1-2 since Brazil '05.
And Bahrain's hot up next.
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