Fisichella leads Renault 1-2 in Malaysia

This gave Renault the second ever 1-2 finish as a constructor - the previous time was in the 1982 French Grand Prix.

It was the third win of Italian Fisichella's career and helped the him fulfil his pledge to produce a brilliant race in memory of his close friend Pietro Saitta, who was killed in a road accident the previous Sunday.

Fisichella had dedicated his pole position triumph on Saturday to his friend.

The result gave Renault, the defending constructors' champions, their second ever one-two victory and the first since 1982 on one of their favourite circuits and confirmed them as the dominant early force in this year's title race.

Briton Jenson Button, still seeking a first win after 102 Grands Prix, came home third for Honda.

Fisichella's win hoisted him up the embryonic drivers' championship standings into close contention behind defending champion Spaniard Alonso.

Alonso. who won the season-opening race in Bahrain the previous weekend. leads the title race with 18 points. Fisichella has 10. Button and Michael Schumacher each have 11.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya finished fourth for McLaren-Mercedes, but his teammate Finn Kimi Raikkonen crashed out on the opening lap.

Brazilian Felipe Massa was fifth for Ferrari ahead of his vastly more experienced teammate seven times champion Schumacher, who finished sixth in his slipstream as the crossed the line.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve was seventh for BMW and Ralf Schumacher eighth for Toyota.

The race began in searing heat - again. The track temperature was 37 degrees Celsius, the air 33 and the humidity 61 per cent, as the grid settled for the start.

As they pulled away, Fisichella took the lead and kept it going into the first corner while his Renault teammate Alonso made a dramatic move forward from seventh to third. As this happened, the 20-year-old rookie Nico Rosberg slipped back from third to seventh.

The opening lap was not completed before there was a spectacular incident in which title contender Finn Kimi Raikkonen in his McLaren-Mercedes appeared to collide with Austrian Christian Klien's Red Bull Ferrari.

He fought to control his car, but could not stay in command and spun off at turn eight into a gravel trap, the impact smashing the rear wing off his car. Raikkonen walked away unhurt.

This accident ended his day and also meant he faced a major task in rebuilding his championship challenge as he trudged away to watch the Renaults of Fisichella and defending champion Alonso control the race.

Fisichella reeled off a series of fastest laps to open up a clear lead before he pitted after 17 of the 56 laps.

By then, Klien had retired - probably due to the damage caused by his earlier impact with Raikkonen whose rear suspension was wrecked - and so, too, had Rosberg.

The impressive young German's engine blew up after six laps in a wild blaze of smoke and flames. His departure was soon followed by that of Briton David Coulthard, whose Red Bull was stuck in sixth gear.

Rosberg's Williams teammate Mark Webber also pulled out in the early laps, sparks flying from the rear of his car indicating engine expiry after 16 laps.

These incidents and the pitting of Fisichella gave Button a brief taste of the lead for Honda between laps 18 and 20 when his own need for fuel allowed the defending champion Alonso to take control.

The Spaniard led from lap 20 to the end of lap 26 when he, too, came in, and Fisichella took the ascendancy again, ahead of Button. When the field settled down, after 28 laps, Alonso set a fastest lap in third and the front three were already 11.5 seconds clear of the rest.

Remarkably, fourth place belonged at this stage to the young Brazilian Massa, who had worked his way up from 21st on the grid at the start without a pitstop.

His Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher was in seventh place, having pitted once, a sure sign that the Italian team were returning to their competitive best after a lacklustre 2005.

Massa pitted, finally, after 29 laps, dropping to seventh when the order settled again.

At the half-distance mark, there was no doubting the power of the Renaults as Fisichella led and Alonso ran third, the pair sandwiching Button's Honda, who was hanging on in second place, 9.6 seconds behind the leading Italian.

His teammate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello endured a less-happy time. Fined earlier for speeding in the pitlane during practice, he suffered a 10-second penalty for doing the same in the race.

Following the first pitstops, the leading order was established as Fisichella led Button and Alonso, this trio running 23 seconds clear of the chasing pack with 20 laps remaining.

The second pitstops did Button no favours as he wound up running fourth behind the slower Montoya afterwards, and more than 13 seconds down on the two Renaults.

That meant Alonso, after one stop, was out in front of Fisichella, who after two was 8.2 seconds behind his teammate. Montoya was then third, but like Alonso had made only one stop.

Montoya went in and then Alonso, for his second stop, after 43 laps. It was a rapid 6.4 seconds in-and-out leaving him to resume in second place, behind Fisichella, but ahead of Button.

Michael Schumacher, driving consistently, had risen to fourth before he pitted a second time.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

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

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Fisichella    Renault              (M)  1h30:40.529
 2.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  +     4.585
 3.  Button        Honda                (M)  +     9.631
 4.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  +    39.351
 5.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +    43.254
 6.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              (B)  +    43.854
 7.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber           (M)  +  1:20.461
 8.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +  1:21.288
 9.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
10.  Barrichello   Honda                (M)  +     1 lap
11.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  +    2 laps
12.  Albers        MF1-Toyota           (B)  +    2 laps
13.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota           (B)  +    2 laps
14.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:34.803

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (M)    49
Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)    42
Ide           Super Aguri-Honda    (B)    34
Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)    27
Webber        Williams-Cosworth    (B)    16
Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)    11
Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth    (B)    7
Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)    1


World Championship standings, round 2:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        18        1.  Renault               28
 2.  M.Schumacher  11        2.  Ferrari               15
 3.  Button        11        3.  McLaren-Mercedes      15
 4.  Fisichella    10        4.  Honda                 11
 5.  Montoya        9        5.  Williams-Cosworth      5
 6.  Raikkonen      6        6.  BMW-Sauber             2
 7.  Massa          4        7.  Toyota                 1
 8.  Webber         3        8.  Red Bull-Ferrari       1
 9.  Rosberg        2       
10.  Villeneuve     2       
11.  Klien          1       
12.  R.Schumacher   1       
       
All timing unofficial