Rivals struggle as Renault click
Giancarlo Fisichella and world champion Fernando Alonso were in a league of their own around Sepang and their performance advantage was clear, recording the two fastest race laps as well as Fisichella taking pole position.
But the pair were given a helping hand as the Anglo-French team look to defend both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles.
Ferrari had engine woes and Michael Schumacher wound up behind team- mate Felipe Massa, McLaren could only get Juan Pablo Montoya to finish in fourth after Kimi Raikkonen was taken out by Red Bull’s Christian Klien on lap one, while the Williams cars of Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber retired with mechanical trouble.
Schumacher, whose three points for sixth leaves him seven behind Alonso in the admittedly embryonic drivers’ championship, said: “We can accept this result considering everything that has happened over the weekend. I don’t think that we could have achieved much more.
“On my second stint I wasn’t as quick as I was on my first and third, so now we need to understand the reasons for that.
“All things said and done, the race went basically as I expected, even if I was hoping for more. During the closing stages of the race I was not able to get past Felipe because I just wasn’t fast enough and he didn’t make any mistakes.”
Raikkonen had been frustrated by a suspension failure in qualifying at Bahrain, necessitating one of his trademark charges through the field from the back of the grid.
Third place there had already handed Alonso a four-point advantage, and the Finn now trails the Spaniard by 12 points in a championship that nowadays is decided by consistent points finishes.
“I am very disappointed because I had a great car set-up and very good race strategy,” said Raikkonen.
“I think it was fairly obvious that Klien made a basic mistake and ran into the back of me at turn five, breaking my rear suspension in the process.”
Montoya had a repeat of his weekend in Bahrain where he started near the front, but was never in any danger of threatening the leaders, a lack of pace which he attributed to his car.
“I think we had a solid race,” reasoned the Colombian. “We lost a lot of time in the first stint as my front tyres were graining. With the hot temperatures here we did have to look after the engine, which means we had to sacrifice downforce.”
Rosberg had started from third on the grid, underlining the speed of the Williams, the only privateer team that has looked remotely competitive in the two grands prix so far.
But the German’s engine exploded on lap seven and even if he had gone backwards at the start, the 20-year-old rookie had expected a strong race.
“What happened was a shame as I was going quite well, even if I had wheelspin at the start and problems at the first corner, where I could have been a bit more aggressive,” he said. “Just a few seconds before my engine gave up, I felt there was something wrong with it. It’s really unfortunate, but that’s the way it goes.”
Webber added: “We had a hydraulic problem. The pace was good but you have to see the chequered flag. No-one is waiting for you this year, the competition is incredible.
“Hats off to Renault - they’ve done a superb job and they are showing everyone else how to do it and no-one can consistently chase them.”
