Sepang F1 circuit, Malaysia...

Sepang F1 circuit, Kuala lumpur, Malaysia was where the action was this weekend. Known as the most technical circuit on the F1 calender we witnessed a lot of action.

Just as Lewis Hamilton had driven the perfect race in the opening round in Melbourne, so Kimi Raikkonen simply didn’t put a wheel wrong in the second round of the World Championship in Sepang. For me, Kimi’s entire approach to the race illustrated to me just how becoming World Champion in 2007 has made him an even stronger contender in 2008. Kimi fought back from his disappointing Australian Grand Prix by taking victory in Malaysia and closing to within three points of Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' championship. The Finn cruised home ahead of Robert Kubica and Heikki Kovalainen.

One of the highlights of the race was Trulli’s determined defense of fourth place from Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren. Hamilton fifth? Battling with a Toyota? It says it all about Lewis’s weekend!

There’s no doubt about it. Raikkonen’s Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa is sensationally fast. The Brazilian’s pole position lap in Saturday qualifying was a joy to watch. But when it comes to planning and applying race strategy, Kimi has a clear edge. Even as Massa was claiming the pole position, Raikkonen had claimed second on the grid, half a second a lap slower than his team-mate.

As soon as the lights extinguished, Raikkonen was up alongside Massa, but the Brazilian wasn’t going to give way so easily and didn’t hesitate to move across and ‘close the door’. Not so long ago, Raikkonen’s determination would have meant a clash and a probable disaster. Not any more. Instead he backed off, sitting pretty in second place, knowing he was stopping one lap later. When that time came, Raikkonen’s laps while Massa was heading into and out of the pits were simply stunning. Kimi might not like me saying this, but his winning performance in Sepang was ‘Schumacheresque’.

Sadly Massa, who drives with his heart as much as his head seemed to let the pressure get to him for the second race in succession. A spin into the gravel trap on lap 31 meant another retirement. Massa had a heart-over-head moment that ended his race... when the hell is he going to learn? if he continues in the same way Ferrari are headed for a in-clashing between team mates Kimi & Massa.

A noteworthy result for Jarno Trulli and the Toyota team, with a strong fourth place after a massive dip in form.

Both McLaren drivers were penalised when they slowed prematurely at the end of qualifying. The race stewards found them guilty for staying on the racing line; they clearly impeded both Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso. A five-place penalty thus, this meant Hamilton started down on row five of the starting grid.

A brilliant start moved Hamilton up to fifth by the end of the first lap, only for his efforts to be negated by a jammed wheel at his first pitstop. The McLaren was stuck in the pits for 20 seconds, dropping Hamilton down to 12th, before his fightback to claim four championship points.

No problems of self confidence for second place Robert Kubica or for Heikki Kovalainen too, upholding McLaren honours with a fine third place. There’s no doubt that BMW are building on their 2007 credentials as the ‘best of the rest’ behind Ferrari and McLaren. I reckon it is only a matter of time before we see either Kubica or Nick Heidfeld on the top step of the podium, claiming a maiden Grand Prix win.

Alonso was on the move and took advantage of a mistake from Heidfeld on lap two to take ninth while Nico Rosberg pitted to replace a damaged front wing, Timo Glock pulled into the pits to retire after being hit by the Williams and Sebastien Bourdais' race ended in the gravel.

Massa is going to have to dig deep into his reserves of self-confidence prior to the Bahrain Grand Prix. So saying we said that of him last year too, and he came through to win the Middle East race!

Another highlight of the race was battle between Heidfeld, Alonso & Coultard. It was fantastic racing with all 3 cars lining up the start-finish straight. Heidfeld found a way past both cars just as Alonso lined up a move on Coulthard to pass both the cars while Alonso too pulled off a move to dispatch the Red Bull in a wheel to wheel battle through turns one and two.

Lewis had a disastrous first pit stop which probably cost him his race to the podium. When he came out of the pits he found himself behind Mark Webber who drove pretty well & managed to keep the McLaren car behind him for more than 20 odd laps.

Force India had a mixed weekend. Adrian Sutil didn't finish the race. The other car of Fisichella finished a good 12th. This meant that Force India had a good mid field race & more importantly a finish. They would like to have more of these and prefer a double finish by the end of the season.

Renault had a very good field day. Alonso had a good race finishing 8th and his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. finishing 11th. A surprising thing is that like his father Nelson's career also seems to head in the same way. First 2 races of father-son have been pretty similar results...

Jarno Trulli fended off a late challenge from Lewis Hamilton to take a strong fourth place for Toyota, while Hamilton's fifth place kept him the lead in the drivers' championship. Nick Heidfeld finished sixth ahead of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso taking the final point for Renault.

All these points mean that Hamilton leads Raikkonen in the Drivers Championship by 14 to 11 as the teams head for round three in Bahrain. With a win apiece, honours are even so far. The question is which team might make a break though? Answers to this in 2 weeks time.

Till then Drive safely…