Two drivers started this race with new gearboxes, 14 drivers had new engines in the backs of their cars. Felipe Massa at the end seems to have kept his engine from Malaysia and clearly it did not do him any harm…

Many expected Ferrari to dominate this race, thanks also to their winter test on Bahrain track. Well, this is exactly what has happened. Since Friday Ferraris were the quickest cars, Felipe Massa looked like the man to beat. It did not go all to well for him in qualifying and he had to start from P2. He however took an advantage of problems Kubica was experiencing and lead the race from the start. Kimi Raikkonen lost his position briefly to Heikki Kovalainen. He claimed it back quickly and overtaking of Kubica followed shortly.

Raikkonen lost some time during his first pit stop and from there it was clear that bar some technical problems or accident Ferrari were going to score 1-2 finish and Massa his first win of the season. None of the drivers did anything silly and Ferrari 1-2 it was.

Kubica complained about lots of wheel spin at the race start he lost his P1 quickly to Massa. Nobody apparently told him about oil on the track on lap 2. The whole situation lead to Kimi overtaking him. From then on however Kubica matched the pace of the leading Ferraris for pretty much the rest of the race. Nick Heidfeld overtook Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli and gained to places to finish 4th. This was a very impressive showing from BMW Sauber team. Pole position, third podium in the row and importantly outpacing McLaren … BMW Sauber now lead the constructors table and Nick Heidfeld sits in the 2nd position of drivers standings. It is hard to consider them just lucky after 3 races like this…

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F1Wolf

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After the crazy Australian GP it looked for a while we may have another mad weekend in Malaysia. The rain and storm predictions however did not materialize (yet again ) and so we had an opportunity to see what the form of the teams is under normal conditions (if the usual heat and humidity in Sepang can be considered normal conditions).

The Ferraris took the most out of their front row starting positions. Raikkonen made a better start but did not look too eager to fight with Massa in the first corner. He cruised in safe distance behind his team mate. When Massa went in for his first pit stop Raikkonen picked up speed and emerged ahead of Massa after his own pit stop. From then on it was all about Ferrari cars lasting the race distance. Then on lap 31 Massa spun off the track chasing nobody and being threatened by no one. He blaimed the spin on something at the back of the car, the team did not seem to see anything wrong with the car …

Raikkonen did not make any Melbourne-like mistakes this time and went on to win his first race of 2008 season. This also means at least one Ferrari car made it to chequered flag after both their cars failed to finish in Australia.

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F1Wolf

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What a race. When I posted a video from the most exciting Australian GP race start I did not really expect we will see something similar this year. At the end, we had a spectacular race that so many cars did not finish, that the last 2 cars that broke down actually scored points.

It has to be said, Lewis Hamilton deserved to win this race. He qualified on pole position, avoided most of the mess that plagued many cars behind him and never looked back. He did not lead the race only during the brief periods after his pit stop. Importantly, same as Heidfeld and Rosberg behind him, he had luck on his side during the safety car periods.

Many were wondering how will the new rules affect the racing, especially what impact they will have on race starts. Well, now we now . Five cars were out after lap one, and Felipe Massa was lucky guy not be the sixth.

Hamilton quickly pulled away, Raikkonen made up several places and climbed to 8th. Sato also made the most out of the mayhem - he was running at 10th for quite a while. Raikkonen’s progress have been stalled by Barrichello, it took Kimi 19 laps to overtake the former Ferrari driver in Honda.

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F1Wolf

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