Schuey reigns supreme in Malaysia

The catalyst for all this was a shower that started within seconds of the start, and which could not have been better timed had Bernie Ecclestone himself ordered it. Some parts of the track became soaked almost without warning, and an oil slick adding to the fun, as race leader Michael was the first to hit it.

His team mate Rubens Barrichello was the second, and we had the extraordinary sight of both Ferraris spearing across a long gravel trap. Their contrasting styles were interesting; Michael seemed to follow a pre-ordained path that involved minimal loss of momentum and bodywork parts, while Rubens tried to fight his car back onto the circuit at any cost.

Both men lost only a handful of places, but clearly there was a long way to go. When new leaders Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard pirouetted at the final turn, and other lesser lights fell off all round the track, Michael and the Ferrari crew knew that if they got their strategy right they could still turn this around.

And then the Italian version of the Keystone Cops took over. Two red cars surged down the pitlane, and in the confusion nobody noticed that, thanks to some further unseen grassy moments for the World Champion, the first man to arrive was Barrichello. Tyres that were marked for Michael were fitted, and had he headed out of the pits, Rubens would have faced inevitable disqualification. But the mistake was spotted, and chaos ensued as the Brazilian's own tyres were found.

With him out the way, the team then had to service Michael, who was watching events unfold with considerable concern, not least because he could see other cars - including the McLarens - were long gone. He would record a lap time of 4m17s!

The Ferraris resumed in 10th and 11th, but since, the safety car was out, neither the silver cars nor anyone else was going to get too far away.

Still as the field toured round, and we had a chance to catch our breath, it was easy to imagine that the contrasting moods on the pitwall. Ferrari had blown it, and McLaren had won the strategic battle. But DC and Mika did not win the war...

We saw that almost as soon as the field was unleashed. Both Ferraris were soon making up ground, and after rather forcefully reminding Rubens who was boss, Michael began to set a stunning pace. As the track dried out, he moved up into the lead past a helpless Coulthard. Michael had been 85 seconds behind DC as he tried to catch the safety car on lap 5, but by lap 29, albeit after the Scot pitted, he was 89 seconds ahead. Amazing!

Watching from inside the first corner it was at first hard to work out what was going on, but eventually it became apparent that Ferrari had pulled a masterstroke by going straight to intermediates rather than wet tyres.

"I said to the crew, we've got a problem," noted Ross Brawn. "Let's at least make sure we've got the right tyres on the car, because we've got a safety car, and maybe we can recover something out of it. At that stage you mind is more about maybe scoring a few points. Luckily we tried these tyres at Fiorano last week, and we knew that the intermediate was a very, very good tyre."

It was a brilliant decision, and one which left McLaren shell-shocked. Later Ron Dennis argued in vain that going for intermediates was not a safe decision in the circumstances. "You can't put a driver's life at risk," he said, implying that Ferrari had been irresponsible. But since the safety car was out, and no one could go quickly anyway, Ferrari had rightly surmised that it was a risk well worth taking.

In truth McLaren (and everyone else) had been beaten fair and square on a day when Ferrari seemed to have stumbled, and no one could blame Ron for looking for reasons to justify it. Meanwhile a lacklustre run from Mika was perhaps the first sign that the old fire wasn't burning so brightly...