Renault 1-2 with Fisi on Top
Malaysian Grand Prix

By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

Schumacher and the Malaysian flag.

Renault jumped to the top of the leader board showing that they are still the team to beat after Giancarlo Fisichella drove an uneventful race to capture his third career win ahead of his reigning world champion team mate. Try as Jenson Button might, he still hasn't shown that he is made of championship material as he was only able to bring the Honda home in the short step on the podium. Is it still a case of all hype and no go?

Fisichella seems to always play the role of lightning rod on the French team and gets burdened with all of the bad luck. This win may change things, but chances are, he'll be second fiddle again in two weeks. Flavio Briatori was happy that the team managed their first 1-2 since the time most of the models he tries to date were in kindergarten.

The start.

Alonso showed that he still has the drive to win by a very nice start on the grid when he managed to jump ahead several places to get close to the front runners, even with a heavier load of fuel. It seems that the French team has created a fast car right out of the box this year.

Kimi Raikkonen didn’t play a role in the race at all after being hit from behind by Klien’s Red Bull Racing car and crashed out on the first lap. Conspiracy theorists are probably wondering if the Ferrari engines that Red Bull is using just became a little cheaper for that stunt. Good thing that Mercedes keeps talking about the safety of their cars so the Finn was uninjured walking back to the pit lane…

The flying Finn's team mate actually put up a decent result to keep his extended family happy (rumor is a few distant cousins joined his fan club over the winter, we’re not sure if money had to change hands). Juan Pablo Montoya finished ahead of both Ferraris in fourth place, but would probably have been further back if both red cars weren’t penalized for engine replacements.

Schumacher and Massa after the race.

Filipe Massa should be the talk of the town in Maranello after finishing in fifth place, ahead of Michael Schumacher after starting way the hell back on the grid due to two engine replacements. The young Brazilian had to make Jean Todt’s son happy this weekend. If Ferrari can sort out a cracking pistons issue, they should be able to keep up with the Renaults. Time will tell.

Jacques Villeneuve finished seventh, therefore being the first points scorer for BMW. He would have been further back if his team mate who was much quicker hadn't blown an engine within eight laps from the end of the race. These were attrition points, not driving effort points. But the French Canadian will probably just say that points are points.

The last point of the race went to Ralf Schumacher and Toyota. Not really a great return on investment of a sum rumored to be well over $350 million. The team should be happy that they split the Honda team, but really, when you're racing for the last points paying position, it's probably not the press coverage that management thought they were aiming for. Rubens Barichello still finished mid field and a lap back, but at least he went home with a bigger paycheck than he was getting in Maranello. Too bad Honda doesn't have an equivalent of a Superamerica to give him as a daily car.

Schumacher

Liuzzi in the Red Bull and both Midland racers finished two laps back, but their sponsors were probably disappointed that the only TV coverage they received was when their cars were being lapped. Sato-san finished three laps back as the last racer qualified.

Please, bring back the 107% rule.

Schumacher

The surprise of the race was the fact that neither Williams finished the race. Patrick Head was seen showered and in street clothes 15 laps from the end. For a team that showed potential just a few years back, you have to wonder how much longer they can go on.

Going into Australia in two weeks, right now it looks like Renault is the team to beat. Ferrari has a few days to sort out their engine issues and two weeks is a lot longer than most people think when you throw a couple of hundred people on a problem. Remember, these are still the fly away races and the development teams haven't been sitting around just watching the races since the season kicked off. It's still way to early to tell where the standings will be come the end of the year.

The good news is it is getting interesting rather than the fast parade it has been the last several seasons.

Massa