By Phil Giles
April 8 2007

Phil's lap by lap(ish) description of the Malaysian Grand Prix. Just a warning that the following contains details of the race. If you haven't seen it yet then don't read this!

The Malaysian Grand Prix is ready to go. Albers and Sutil are 20th and 21st. Rubens Barrichello takes a penalty and is starting from the pit lane.
The parade lap sets off with no difficulties. Rain is expected at around lap 36.
Spyker start the race on soft tyres. They will need a stint on the hard tyres during the race.
Massa starts on pole, with Alonso behind and Kimi in third. Turn 2 is a tight one. expect some action there.

Lap 1
Alonso leads and Hamilton takes second.
Turn 4 yellow flags. Who's come together?
Sutil appears to be out. Sutil is in the gravel ending his Grand Prix in just four corners.

Lap 2
Alonso is pulling away. Albers is trundling around at the back of the pack. Liuzzi in the pit lane. Did he tump Adrian? Replay shows Sutil and Button coming together.

Lap 3
Alonso fastest. First to pit Liuzzi nose changed.
Albers and Sato are 1.2 seconds apart. Hamilton is under pressure from Massa. Keeping the Ferrari's honest.

Lap 4
Alonso pulling away for Mclaren. Albers 3.2 seconds away from Sato.

Lap 5
Hamilton locks up. Massa goes very wide and looses two places. Raikkonen takes third.

Lap 6
Albers is falling further away from Sato. 8.4 seconds behind. Button may be suffering from the initial thump with Sutil.

Lap 7
Raikkonen closing on Hamilton. Albers pits as the engine overheats and Albers retires. Spykers race is over.

Lap 9
Alonso leads. 9.6 seconds in front of Hamilton. Could this be Mclarens first win in over 20 races?

Lap 10
Alonso, Hamilton, Raikonnen, Heidfeld, Massa and Kubica

Lap 11
Kubica pits.

Lap 12
Gascoyne: Albers was stuck in third gear. The engine was running with high revs and caught fire in pit lane. Adrian made contact with someone (Button) and then something broke later into the lap.

Lap 13
Kubica has a problem and is back into 19th place. Hamilton is 12 seconds behind Alonso.
Massa struggling to get past Heidfeld.

Lap 14
Alonso sets the fastest lap so far. 1.36.921

Lap 15
Kubica has passed Barrichello.

Lap 17
Massa pits from 5th for fuel and tyres as does Alex Wurz, Sato and Speed.
Alonso appears to have comms problems. Alonso pits. Hamilton leads. Kimi pits.

Lap 18
Alonso should keep his lead.

Lap 19
Rosberg Pits. Hamilton has stayed out for another lap. He was fuel heavy at the start and still managed to get up to second.

Lap 20
Hamilton pits. Heidfeld leads for BMW but still needs to pit.

Lap 21
Webber pit as does Button.

Lap 22
Hamilton sets the fastest lap. 1.36.701

Lap 23
Fisi pits. Liuzzi is trundling around at the back of the field.

Lap 25
Fisi's renault sets his fastest lap

Lap 26
Coulthard stops. Just a 2 stopper for the Red Bull man. Fisichella takes another point for Renault.

Lap 27
Kubica pits again. A new nose cone and hard tyres.

Lap 28
Hamilton is just under 9 seconds behind Alonso. May have lost a bit of time in traffic.

Lap 30
Liuzzi, Schumacher and Kubica have all been lapped. Kovalainen is in 9th for Renault. Fisi has 2 points in 7th place.

Lap 32
Fisi could be one stopping.
Hamilton 8.3 seconds behind Alonso.

Lap 34
Wurz pits again as does Barrichello and Speed. Coulthard has a brake pedal problem.

Lap 35
Davidson pits. Ralf Schumacher has dropped to the back of the field in the Toyota.
Hamilton is now under 8 seconds behind Alonso.

Lap 37
Liuzzi and Coulthard pit. Coulthard may have retired. Liuzzi is back out on track.

Lap 38
Button Pits. The gap between Alonso and Hamilton stays the same. Hamilton pits. Short fill for Hamilton. Changed to the hard tyres for the final stint. Rosberg pits aswell.

Lap 39
The computer shows that DC has retired. The team are trying to fix the problem and he may be able to rejoin the race. Kovalainen pits.

Lap 40
Alonso pits. Hard tyres again for the final stint. Raikkonen takes the lead but will have to stop. Massa Pits.

Lap 41
Hamilton's time is slower on the harder tyres. Raikkonen pits 6.9 seconds. Alonso and Hamilton go back through into 1st and 2nd.

Lap 42
Fisi and Webber pit

Lap 44
Rosberg's Williams Toyota lets go. Hamilton seems to be struggling on the new tyres. He's falling back from Alonso and into the clutches of Raikkonen.

Lap 46
Alonso leads as he has done from the start. Lewis is 18 seconds behind. Kubica goes onto the gravel at turn 7.

Lap 48
Traffic is slowing Hamilton. Kovalainen runs a bit wide.

Lap 49
Raikkonen is catching Hamilton who is steadily falling away from Alonso. Can he hold on to second?

Lap 51
Raikkonen less than 3 seconds behind Hamilton.

Lap 52
Hamilton 21 seconds behind Alonso.

Lap 53
Both Renaults are in the points. 1.7 seconds separate Raikkonen from Hamilton. Can he pass him before the end of the race?

Lap 54
1.2 seconds behind now. 22 seconds from Alonso. Raikkonen closing in on sector 2

Lap 55
Less than one second behind now. Ome small mistake could give Ferrari the second place. Hamilton is still steady and not running at the ragged edge.

Lap 56
Fernando Alonso wins the race. Hamilton holds on for second, Raikkonen takes third. Heidfeld for BMW takes fourth place. An excellent performance from McLaren.

Four cars retire from the race. Sutil, Albers, DC and Rosberg.
Lewis Hamilton takes the fastest lap of the race on lap 22.