What a difference a week makes! In complete contrast to Australia this time it was McLaren's turn to struggle. Ferrari qualified first and second and looked set to repeat this in the race until pole-sitter Massa spun off whilst lying second. It looked odd at the time with no obvious cause, but it seems that when he clunked over the kerb on the way in, this stalled the aerodynamics - thank you and good night!

Both Ferraris had looked good in qualifying, with smooth, single sweeps of the steering wheel needed to turn into and out of a corner; if you see any sawing at the wheel, then that car's in trouble. Massa secured pole, he does seem better over a single lap than Raikkonen, who was second, though it later turned out that the Brazilian was carrying less fuel. Raikkonen pitted the lap after his team-mate and came out of the pits in front of him by means of a stunning in-lap with the best time in every sector bar the last. In fact Raikkonen's performance was faultless, whereas Massa's was far from it.

Massa's performance this year (nil points) have led some to suggest that he could be replaced by Sebastian Vettel - even before the end of the season. These rumours have been strenuously denied on both sides which, in the F1 world, normally means the opposite. Stefano Domenicali has said Ferrari are not concerned by Massa's form and Gerhard Berger has said Vettel is not for sale - unlike the team he drives for. With the plan to allow customer cars dead in the water, part-owner and "the money" Dietrich Mateschitz has decided the Italian team must go. However much it is denied, it would be logical for Ferrari to have their eye on Vettel. Kimi Raikkonen has said he won't go on for ever, it's clear that Massa is not, nor never will be, a top-line driver and Vettel looks an attractive prospect. I wonder how much of his onboard data Ferrari have access to when they rebuild his engines?

Fernando Alonso confirmed yesterday that he has an option to leave Renault at the end of the year but, unlike Vettel, you cannot imagine him going to Ferrari whilst Raikkonen is there. Alonso and Renault struggled again in Malaysia, qualifying ninth and picking up one point for eighth. Alonso was clearly wringing the neck of his recalcitrant car in qualifying and the absence of gizmology was evident in the big slides. I don't know whether this approach makes any difference, but it sure looks good and must motivate the team!

BMW-Sauber might be another option for Alonso as they were second best in Malaysia and are fighting to take over that place permanently and teams often go from being third straight to fighting for first. Massa's error gifted Robert Kubica second which he maintained to the end of the race. Team mate Nick Heidfeld was sixth. However, you cannot imagine Alonso standing someone of the calibre of Kubica in the same team, so BMW Sauber seems an unlikely destination for him.

Over at the Grey Empire, Lewis's tail-out style had him in trouble this time and his team-mate out-qualified him. The Maccas ending up third and fourth, but were demoted five places each. After the last regulatory re-shuffle the cars must start the race with the fuel they have in at the end of Q3, hence the drivers are told to save as much as possible after their hot laps. So we were presented by the incredible sight of the McLarens crawling along on the racing line, whilst others were on their hot lap. Alonso was impeded and Heidfeld had to jink round Hamilton and Kovalainen, whom it later emerged were doing just 60kph! There will have to be yet another revision to the regulations where all laps must be completed within a certain percentage of pole time or the driver penalised. It also seems ludicrous that Raikkonnen set the best time of all in Q2 which was one and a half seconds quicker than Massa's pole.

Hamilton got trapped behind Mark Webber's Red Bull for a large part of the race and he eventually came home fifth, Jarno Trulli fending him off to take a good fourth for Toyota. In neither of these episodes, nor later when Alonso was "fighting" Webber for seventh did a real overtaking move look even vaguely possible. The car behind closes to a certain distance, then hits a wall - with turbulent air spilling off the car in front spoiling its aerodynamics. This made for a dull race ("Is dat Tollyman still followin' de Stewart?" asked a "mature" relative who'd just woken up). Sadly it looks like we will have to put up with this until 2011 at the earliest when moveable aerodynamic devices which can compensate for turbulent air are being considered by the FIA.

Crazy Dave Coolthud had a far from dull weekend, but for all the wrong reasons. A track rod came unglued in practice and when his Dead Bull mounted the kerb the front suspension just disintegrated! Team officials were summoned to the Stewards to explain what was occurring. The cars were allowed to race and we were treated to the sequence of Dave reporting on the radio that it was understeering, which he immediately demonstrated by sliding wide, whereupon he was mugged by Heidfeld and Alonso. Served him right.

Giancarlo Fisichella in his Force India did the best of the Ferrari customers with 12th place. This was an excellent result for the team and the Italian veteran, especially as they beat Rubens Barrichello and his Honda. Fisichella's team-mate Adrian Sutil retired on the fifth lap with hydraulics failure. Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais went from hero to zero in successive races, getting onto the loose stuff and spinning off into a gravel trap on the first lap. Sebastian Vettel qualified 15th and ran as high as 12th before retiring with what looked like another fiery Ferrari engine failure, but turned out to be overheated hydraulics.

Raikkonen attributed Ferrari's return to form to Sepang being a more "traditional" circuit than Melbourne. What does this mean? The way it's laid out, or the fact it's a permanent circuit or what? Looking at the circuit maps Sepang looks smoother, more flowing and with more medium speed corners than Melbourne, which has a lot of short straight bits followed by 90° corners. Bahrain (next race) looks more like Sepang than Melbourne, so hopefully we'll be OK, especially as Ferrari is one of only two teams to go testing there last winter. Looking at the maps, maybe the more like the classic "test piece of spaghetti stuck to the ceiling" the circuit is, the better Ferrari go. This does have a certain simmetria about it.

I cannot end without mention of the news that in 2010 UK TV coverage of F1 is going back to the BBC. My initial reaction was favourable just because the adverts will go. I trust they'll keep Martin Brundle, at least 'til Jenson Button's available. Why is it that the programme's title sponsors' ads are usually so bloody awful? I now have a policy of NOT buying anything from any company that does stupid and annoying ads. Needless to say there'll be no new Sony equipment at Maison D'Arcy! Mind you, with the ads gone, when will we know to go for a comfort break or to put the kettle on? Maybe an interlude in each GP, complete with Potter's Wheel, is called for. Finally, d'you think they'll bring back "The Chain"?

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Massa stuck it on pole

Retired F1 team bosses outing

Ferrari looked set for a 1-2

Hamilton was stuck behind Webber for much of the race

Crazy Dave talked, slid wide and was jumped!

Kovalainen took a good third ahead of Trulli

Kubica was gifted second after Massa spun off

Kimi cruised to a comfortable win

Nice to get the first win of the year in the bag

Click for FIA lap chart

Meanwhile...

Classy Grid Girls

Schuey was second in a bike race in Hungary!

Will this replace the ads? Click the pic.

pics by Ferrari Media, FIA, Reuters, XPB, LAT, Sutton & whirligig-tv