Alonso leads McLaren 1-2 in Malaysia

Ferrari lost this race within the first few hundred yards, as both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were swamped by the McLarens at the first corner.

Alonso made a marginally better start than front row partner Massa and slipped down the inside at Turn 1. Hamilton replicated the move to pass Raikkonen for third, then drove around the outside of Massa at Turn 2 to give McLaren an advantage that they would not lose.

Massa made spirited efforts to pass Hamilton in the early stages. He dived down the inside at Turn 4 on the second lap but ran wide and relinquished the place again.

He made a second attempt at the same manoeuvre three laps later, only to lock up and slide onto the grass. By the time Massa had rejoined the road, he was down to fifth place, behind Nick Heidfeld's fuel-heavy BMW.

Raikkonen moved up to challenge Hamilton, but was less aggressive in his pressure and simply shadowed the McLaren.

While this battle unfolded, Alonso was free to pull away and establish a commanding lead - lapping an average of 0.7 seconds faster than Hamilton to put himself 15 seconds ahead by the first pitstops.

McLaren put Hamilton on a short middle stint - allowing the rookie to escape from Raikkonen, who was stuck behind Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault for several laps immediately after his first stop.

The tactic also allowed Hamilton to inch closer to Alonso, and by half-distance the McLarens were only seven seconds apart, with Raikkonen 20 seconds behind the leader.

But Hamilton lost pace in the final stint, allowing Raikkonen to mount a late charge and close back onto the McLaren's tail.

It was too late to make any difference to the result, however, with Hamilton remaining 0.8  seconds clear of Raikkonen as Alonso cruised home with a 17.5 second lead, moving into the world championship lead in the process.

After his early error, Massa spent the rest of the afternoon trapped behind Heidfeld, whose longer stints meant that there was no chance for Ferrari to pass during the pit stop sequences.

Nico Rosberg was on course to finish close behind this pair in sixth, only for an apparent hydraulic problem to strike with 13 laps to go.

That elevated Giancarlo Fisichella to sixth after a more positive race for Renault, as his teammate Heikki Kovalainen made up for his Melbourne errors with a consistent drive to eighth, having matched Fisichella's pace for much of the race.

Toyota's Jarno Trulli finished between the Renaults.

An aggressive first stint was the key to Alex Wurz's progress from the back of the grid to ninth, the Williams holding off Mark Webber's Red Bull in the closing laps.

Rubens Barrichello came through from last to 11th for the troubled Honda team, just ahead of teammate Jenson Button and Super Aguri's Takuma Sato. Ralf Schumacher never recovered from a first lap delay and finished 15th.

Robert Kubica and David Coulthard were the other notable drivers to hit trouble, with the BMW suffering badly from traction control problems and tumbling down the order, and Coulthard retiring after his brake pedal started fouling his car's steering column, rendering the Red Bull undriveable.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
56 laps; 310.408km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1h32:14.930
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    17.557
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  +    18.339
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +    33.777
 5.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +    36.705
 6.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  +  1:05.638
 7.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +  1:10.132
 8.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +  1:12.015
 9.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)  +  1:29.924
10.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +  1:33.556
11.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Button        Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
15.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:36.701

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)    44
Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)    37
Albers        Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    8
Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 2:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        18        1.  McLaren-Mercedes      32
 2.  Raikkonen     16        2.  Ferrari               23
 3.  Hamilton      14        3.  BMW Sauber            10
 4.  Heidfeld      10        4.  Renault                8
 5.  Fisichella     7        5.  Toyota                 3
 6.  Massa          7        6.  Williams-Toyota        2
 7.  Rosberg        2       
 8.  Trulli         2       
 9.  R.Schumacher   1       
10.  Kovalainen     1       
       
All timing unofficial