2007 Malaysian GP: Alonso's first McLaren win, Hamilton shines

The 2007 Malaysian GP belonged to McLaren. Fernando Alonso started from second and won ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton. Kimi Räikkönen took third in the Ferrari. The race was decided in the opening corners: both McLarens got past polesitter Felipe Massa. From there Alonso controlled proceedings, while Hamilton kept the Ferraris behind him.

It was Alonso's first win with McLaren. For McLaren, it was the first one-two since the 2005 Brazilian GP.

At the Sepang International Circuit, Massa made a poor start from pole position. Alonso took the inside line into the first corner and moved into the lead. Räikkönen ran too wide at Turn One. Hamilton used the gap on the inside and then went round the outside of Massa at Turn Two. That put him second after just a few hundred metres, despite starting from fourth on the grid.

At Turn Four, the race was already over on the opening lap for Adrian Sutil in the Spyker. The official classification lists a collision as the cause. According to Wikipedia, Sutil's car hit the Honda of Jenson Button, who had to pit early for repairs. Also at Turn Four, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Takuma Sato made contact. Liuzzi needed a new front wing.

The most exciting phase of the race was the fight for second place. Massa attacked Hamilton several times in the early laps, mostly on the inside at Turn Four. The rookie withstood every attack. On his third attempt, the Brazilian braked too late, slid across the grass and dropped behind Hamilton, Räikkönen and Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber. Sources differ on which lap it happened: Wikipedia says lap 5, grandprix.com lap 6.

After that, Massa made no further progress. According to crash.net, Heidfeld kept him behind for around 50 laps. Massa thus fell from pole position to fifth. Having lost four places, he was one of the losers of the day.

Up front, Alonso drove a lonely race. After about ten laps his team radio failed, and McLaren communicated with him via the pit board. The radio was fixed during his stop. Even so, Alonso built a big lead before his first stop: around 15 seconds over Hamilton according to Wikipedia, almost 20 seconds according to crash.net.

The lead changed hands several times during the first round of stops. Hamilton led from lap 19, Heidfeld briefly from lap 21, before Alonso took over again on lap 22. Hamilton made a short stop on lap 20 and stayed ahead of Räikkönen. According to crash.net, McLaren adjusted his front wing because the rear was unsettled. After that the car handled better. Heidfeld's late stop on lap 22 kept him ahead of Massa.

During the second round of stops, Räikkönen briefly led again from lap 41. From lap 42, Alonso was back in front. The only remaining excitement at the end was the fight for second place. Hamilton ran the final stint on the harder tyres and, according to crash.net, lost up to a second per lap. Räikkönen kept closing in, but Hamilton narrowly held on to second. Based on grandprix.com's timings, he finished 17.557 seconds behind Alonso and 0.782 seconds ahead of Räikkönen. Hamilton also set the fastest lap of the race (1:36.701 on lap 22).

Then there was the heat: the race was held in sunshine and intense heat. Alonso described how warm the drink in the cockpit became: after ten laps, he said, it was like drinking tea ("it is like drinking tea", grandprix.com).

Four drivers failed to finish:

• Adrian Sutil (Spyker): out on lap 1 after a collision
• Christijan Albers (Spyker): out after 7 laps; the official cause is the engine
• David Coulthard (Red Bull): out after 36 laps with brake problems; according to Wikipedia, he had already had trouble with the brake pedal in Friday practice
• Nico Rosberg (Williams): out after 42 laps with a hydraulic failure. He had started sixth on the grid and, according to crash.net and grandprix.com, had been running in the points until then.

Robert Kubica in the second BMW Sauber did make it to the finish, but had a day to forget. He was the first driver to pit, on lap 12. After that he was hampered by traction control problems, according to crash.net due to a suspected sensor fault. He had to make a second early stop, took on a new front wing and fresh tyres, and was eventually lapped by teammate Heidfeld. Kubica dropped from seventh on the grid to 18th: eleven places lost.

Behind the podium, Heidfeld drove a strong race. He finished fourth, which according to grandprix.com was the second race in a row he had taken that position. The remaining points went to both Renault drivers and a Toyota driver. Giancarlo Fisichella climbed from twelfth on the grid to sixth. Jarno Trulli was seventh, and rookie Heikki Kovalainen scored his first championship point in eighth.

Two veterans gained the most places. Rubens Barrichello (Honda) started last from 22nd and finished eleventh, a gain of eleven places. Alexander Wurz in the Williams went from 19th on the grid to ninth, gaining ten places. According to grandprix.com, reliability problems had left Wurz far down the starting grid. Mark Webber finished tenth for Red Bull.

Alongside Kubica, Massa and Rosberg, Ralf Schumacher was also among the losers. He went from ninth on the grid to only 15th and finished a lap down. Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri) and Scott Speed (Toro Rosso) were also a lap behind.

The win put Alonso at the top of the 2007 standings. He had 18 points, two more than Räikkönen, who had won the Australian GP and now had 16 points. Hamilton was third with 14 points, Heidfeld fourth with 10. Massa was fifth with 7 points, level with Fisichella.

In sporting terms, Sepang sent a message: after Ferrari's win in the season opener, McLaren struck back in only the second race. The team's new world champion won, and rookie Hamilton stood on the podium for the second time in the second Grand Prix of his career. The way he held off the experienced Massa in the opening phase showed early on that McLaren had two drivers capable of fighting for wins that year. You can find all the results and data from the race on our 2007 Malaysian GP race page.