Michael Schumacher became the first driver for 48 years to score six successive wins as he romped to victory in a rain-hit Malaysian Grand Prix inKuala Lumpur today.
The world champion battled back to win, having dropped from first to 11th in his Ferrari after sliding off the track during a tropical downpour justthree laps into the 55-lap race.
Schumacher won by just over 23 seconds from team-mate Rubens Barrichello, with David Coulthard five seconds further back in third spot.
Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen was fourth with Ralf Schumacher fifth for Williams, while McLaren's two-time champion Mika Hakkinen scored hisfirst points of the season with sixth.
Jenson Button was 11th for Benetton, while Jaguar Racing's Eddie Irvine was one of seven drivers who fell foul of the treacherous conditions inthe early laps.
Schumacher became the first driver since Alberto Ascari to win six in a row and he is now just three behind the all-time record winning streak ofnine set by the Italian in 1952 in 1953.
The 32-year-old's 46th win of his career also moved him within just five of equalling Alain Prost's all-time mark of 51.
Schumacher's lead in the championship is now 10 points from Barrichello and Coulthard, heading into the third race of the season in Brazil in afortnight's time.
The triple champion, who had started on pole for the sixth race in succession, looked set for an easy victory when the race got under way severalminutes late after Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella took up the wrong place on the grid.
Schumacher hared away with team-mate Barrichello holding on to second despite Ralf Schumacher's attempt to take him at the first corner whichforced the German's Williams into a spin.
But a sudden downpour caused both the Ferraris to slide off on to the grass on the third lap, allowing Jordan's Jarno Trulli to take the lead.
The Italian's advantage was brief as he also slid off the greasy track as did Coulthard, although the Scotsman regained control to take the leadafter the pit-stops for wet-weather tyres with the safety car also out.
Schumacher was 11th when the safety car left the track after 10 laps but within three laps had brilliantly forced his way through the field to thirdplace before overtaking Coulthard at the start of the 16th lap
The victory, his second in a row which also maintained Ferrari's perfect record in Malaysia's three-race history, then proved a cake-walk for theSwiss-based driver after the early drama.
Ferrari's first one-two of the campaign gave them a 19-point advantage over McLaren after just two of the 17-race season.
PA