The second round of the season took us to the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. With the terrific heat it’s the most demanding circuits on the drivers in the racing calendar. After the alarm clocks were set to 5:30am there was nothing left to do but grab a coffee and enjoy the second instalment of the new qualifying sessions.

The first round got underway Renault were one of the most notable teams to wise up and set a “banker lap”, learning from their mistake last week in Bahrain, and managing to get through the first session easy enough on old tyres. By contrast, Rubens Barrichello was struggling all weekend and ended up changing to the T-car after the team discovered a problem with the Honda engine. Rubens managed to get through session one relatively easy but it was obvious that he was struggling in a car he would have had no chance to setup to his liking.

In the second round, Ralf Schumacher supplied us with a Toyota engine failure down the pit straight after just setting a time. This would see him through to the final shoot out for pole, despite having no car to drive. Ralf had to sit on the sidelines with the knowledge he would be at the back of the grid despite his efforts. Weirdly Ralf was wearing the widest grin I think I’ve ever seen as he strolled down the pit lane after just abandoning his car and leaving the smoking mess to the stewards.

Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber showed that, given the right tyres, the Williams is looking like a very competitive package. Unfortunately, the Honda Racing F1 car of Rubens Barrichello wasn’t looking competitive- he posted a flying lap time that was not going to be fast enough to make it through to the final round, setting the 12th fastest lap.

The final session now saw much the same as last week, with the cars simply circulating while earning there fuel credit. The action came half way through the session, with Honda making the first switch to new tyres. Renault were struggling with Alonso’s car, and ended up putting double the amount of fuel in than planned, resulting in the Spaniard’s qualifying being compromised and leaving him just 8th fastest.

Jenson Button held pole position for over five minutes, until Fisichella’s flying lap proved quick enough to steal the place. Button had another set of tyres and another lap he could squeeze in, but was unable to quite match the time of Fisichella, instead joining him on the front row. Williams occupied the second row (after Michael Schumacher’s engine change penalty), and the suspected heavy McLaren’s followed in the next row.

Race day came, with a chance of light showers towards the end of the race. With a lot of top names down in the bottom half after engine changes it was a sterling opportunity for the midfield teams to get in amongst the points. It was an absolute must that Jenson Button got away cleanly and didn’t lose any positions to Williams or McLaren, while Rubens, hopefully on heavy fuel, could make up some good positions on his one stop strategy and maybe score a point or two.

The race got underway, with Button getting away cleanly. Alonso, in one of the heaviest cars on the grid, flew down the straight passing both McLaren’s and Williams, taking 3rd place by going around the outside of the battling team mates of Webber and Rosberg.

Jarno Trulli was witnessed being passed rather easily 3 times by 3 different cars on 3 consecutive laps in the same place, with Trulli making very little effort to defend his position. As ITV F1 commentator Martin Brundle said, “He might as well have a big green arrow saying pass this side of me”. In defence, Trulli’s diffuser has been damaged when a Toro Rosso drove into the back of him on the opening lap, upsetting the balance of the car and seeing him finish outside of the points.

Whilst the heavy Alonso held up the sole Williams of Webber, following Rosberg’s early engine induced retirement, both Button and Fisichella were able to scamper off into the distance in the first stint. It was obvious that Button did not have the pace to keep up with Fisichella, as the Italian pulled the gap to over six seconds before his first stop.

As many predicted, Fisichella was light and pitted first. However, his gap to Button was sufficient enough for him to retain the lead after Button stopped two laps later. Unfortunately, Button came out behind Montoya who, despite being much lighter, was struggling to find any sort of pace from his car.

Alonso took up the lead, trying to make up the time he had lost in his first stint by running heavy. I thought he would be one stopping but the team decided 2 stopping was the way to go, so he had to make a lot of time up if he was going to pass both Button and Fisichella in the final stops. Meanwhile, Nick Heidfeld had been holding his own in fifth position, punching firmly above his weight with a very solid drive, right up until his engine gave way just a handful of laps from the end.

With the new V8’s being put under race conditions it seems a lot of teams are struggling to find decent reliability and, as suspected the heat caught out a lot of the teams engines. The engine failures before and during the weekend amazingly almost ran into double figures, affecting the engines from BMW, Cosworth, Ferrari, Honda and Toyota.

Towards the back, Rubens was struggling to find any sort of pace and any chance of a points finish were completely destroyed when he was penalised with a stop and go penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Rubens ended up finishing 10th, mainly due to so many retirements ahead. Hopefully Rubens can pull something out of the hat in Melbourne, although he is struggling with the car by his own admission. However, he has a wealth of experience in F1 and hopefully can adapt and can come back strong, scoring us some valuable points.

Whilst Button was racing towards his 2nd and final stop the STR of Scott Speed and the Super Aguri of Sato hampered him. The team decided to pit Button early, amazingly he was held for well over half a lap and lost over 2 seconds and any hope of keeping the charging Alonso at bay on the final stops were gone.

With the final stop out the way, Button came out behind Montoya AGAIN!? 4 out of 4 pit stops have seen Button filter in right behind a slower McLaren. Whether Button was held up or not was irrelevant, as Alonso had bagged 2nd place and it was simply a case of bringing the car home onto the podium.

Fisichella won the race with a very nice drive from pole, controlling the race from start to finish. A deserving winner. Montoya brought his McLaren back in fourth, ahead of both Ferrari’s. Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher rounded off the top 8, both scoring the first points for their teams this season.

Jenson Button’s podium was a really solid result, and hopefully we will continually improve through the season. We still don’t have a car that is quite fast enough to match the Renaults, but at least Buttons engine managed to complete 2 race weekends problem free, something that is very encouraging for us.

Honda Racing F1 showed again that we have pace, but just not quite enough to challenge the Renaults. None the less, it’s our first podium of the season and a very strong result for the team. Rubens Barrichello will hopefully have a trouble free weekend in Australia, and manage to bag his first points for the team - his unlucky start to the season is surely due to end!

Renault looked as strong as ever with their first one-two of the season [and their first since 1982 – RealHondaF1.com]. Some issues showing up in the telemetry towards the end of the race meant Fernando Alonso had to nurse his car back, but there was nothing major. Alonso’s drive was particularly impressive and it shows how good the team is when they are able to make the best of a bad situation after their fuel rig problems in qualifying.

Ferrari clearly have pace. Michael Schumacher ran six laps longer than pole sitter Giancarlo Fisichella, despite only qualifying 0.8s off his time. A solid race saw him bring his car back into the points, although outpaced by Felipe Massa. I was surprised to see both Ferrari’s finish after so many engine issues at the start of the weekend, and no doubt they will be back at the front in Australia, challenging both Honda and Renault for the stronger points positions.

McLaren and Williams promised so much over the weekend, but delivered so little in the race. The double retirement for Williams was a disappointing result for the team after their solid display in qualifying. For McLaren, Kimi Raikkonen’s bad luck seems to have run into this season from last, while Juan Pablo Montoya struggled with the car, as he did in Bahrain, and was only able to hold position as others retired in front of him.

Toyota have improved a little over their torrid start in Bahrain, with a point for Ralf Schumacher. However, the team cannot rely on cars ahead retiring to gift them points, and still need to find a big performance gain in order to get them amongst the top teams.

BMW-Sauber had a very solid race, with both Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve lingering in the point’s positions throughout the race. It looked good for a double points finish but, unfortunately, Heidfeld’s engine let go just nine laps from the end – an extremely gutting experience for the German who managed to keep up with the McLaren of Montoya for the most part.

Super Aguri performed well again, although Yuji Ide made it two retirements out of two, whilst Takuma Sato managed to finish the race three laps down – posting a fastest lap just 0.6s slower than the Midland car of Monteiro. At this stage, the Japanese team are doing as well as Minardi were doing last year. Perhaps that alone does not sound impressive, but the fact they are using a chassis that is four years old just shows how much hard work they have put into this car.

Honda Racing F1 are looking strong, and I think we have a car that can certainly finish 4th or maybe, at a push, 3rd in the World Constructors Championship.

One thing is for certain; this season is going to be the closest for some years between the top 4 teams.

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