Felipe massa and Fernando Alonso

On Saturday evening, after Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro’s poor qualifying performance, which left Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa 19th and 21st on the grid respectively, Chris Dyer had said that the Malaysian Grand Prix would be a case of “damage limitation.” And so it turned out to be, with Felipe picking up six points for seventh place, to lead the Drivers’ classification and allow Ferrari to maintain its lead in the Constructors’. Fernando? He too had hauled himself up the order into the points, but was cruelly robbed of them when his engine failed, almost within sight of the chequered flag. The race was dominated by Red Bull Racing with Sebastian Vettel winning, after getting the jump on his pole-sitting team-mate, Mark Webber who finished second. Joining them on the podium was Nico Rosberg for Mercedes.

The fact that McLaren had also misjudged the weather on Saturday afternoon, relegating Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button to the lower part of the grid certainly added to the spectacle of the race, which was held in totally dry conditions. The Ferrari and McLaren duos were joined in a battle royal for much of the race, carving past slower cars. At the end of the opening lap, Felipe was behind Hamilton, with Button behind him, followed by Fernando. Hamilton got the best of the slower cars, so that by lap 10 the Englishman was eighth, with Felipe twelfth and Fernando thirteenth. They each moved up a place when Liuzzi retired the Force India and, as others began to pit, they were eighth and ninth on lap 15 and sixth and seventh on lap 25, one lap before Felipe changed tyres onto the softer of the two types, rejoining ninth. Massa had a good duel with Button, around lap 35, one lap before Alonso was the last man to change tyres, which meant the Brazilian was lying eighth ahead of his team-mate. Having gradually closed on the McLaren man, Felipe finally took Button on lap 43, with the Spaniard right on the gearbox of the Englishman. On lap 46, Fernando actually managed to pull alongside Button, but not past him, while further ahead, Felipe was considerably quicker than Hamilton and cutting the gap lap by lap. With six laps remaining, that gap had come down to 2.1s and Fernando was pushing Button very hard indeed for eighth place. Then with two laps remaining it seemed the pass had been made, but as Fernando’s F10 got ahead, a puff of smoke came out from the back of the car and his race was over.

Robert Kubica finished fourth for Renault, followed by Adrian Sutil in the Force India, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe and Jenson Button eighth. The last two points places were filled by Jaime Alguersuari in the Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso and Nico Hulkenberg in the Williams.

After the first three races of the season, Felipe Massa leads the Drivers’ classification on 39 points, just two ahead of Fernando Alonso, who is second, although equal on points with third placed Sebastian Vettel. In the Constructors’ classification, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro leads on 76 points, ten ahead of McLaren, with Red Bull Racing a threatening third on 61.

Source: Ferrari S.p.A.