Motor Sport/ Formula One Championship: After an almost perfect season opener in Bahrain, Formula One reverted to type yesterday with a traditional mix of paddock spats, legal wrangling and possible recrimination. Somewhere in the middle of it all Giancarlo Fisichella won the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Italian driver claimed his first win since the Australian GP at the start of the last season with a typically smooth drive to the flag, holding off a brief surge from team-mate Fernando Alonso. It was just reward for the Renault driver after a turbulent 2005 which had seen him fall foul of numerous technical problems, leaving him to fume and watch his team-mate serenely march to the world drivers' title.
It was also something of a payback from the team after last weekend's race, in which Fisichella again suffered. In Bahrain it was discovered that his engine had been down by almost 50hp leaving Fisichella to curse his team over the car to pit radio, a tirade broadcast over the television airwaves. If there had been any more reason for Fisichella to deserve victory it had come on Saturday. After the Italian had claimed pole position he dedicated the race to a friend who had been killed in an accident six days previously.
But while Fisichella had ample reason to celebrate there were also plenty of reasons his race will be overlooked, not the least of which was the strike by Italian newspapers on the day he claimed the third pole of his career. But it was the morning's paddock activity that threaten to steal the limelight from the Roman.
Since the start of the season veiled questions have been asked of Ferrari's front and rear wings. The rear wing of the new 248 F1 car is flexible, bending downwards under the pressure of air passing over it as the wing is loaded up under speed. That alone had some teams questioning its legality but coupled with yesterday morning's furore, in which several teams made representation to F1 technical delegate Charlie Whiting declaring their unhappiness with Italian team's front wing which according to the teams' observations moves laterally under loading, opening a section of the wing to improve airflow and aerodynamic. So technical, so business as usual in the F1 paddock then.
Ferrari counter-claimed that the front-wing assembly was a solution to a problem with the car and was not an enhancement.
The FIA, in the end, did not rule on either wing's legality but stated that it would monitor the situation. There was no word of an official complaint after yesterday's race, but further rumblings will surely come in the run-up to the Australian Grand Prix in a fortnight's time.
In truth, Fisichella's victory wasn't of the electric kind. It was, the broiling temperatures at Sepang notwithstanding, a routine victory for Renault. Starting from the front of the grid with Honda's Jenson Button beside him and rising star Nico Rosberg and Williams team-mate Mark Webber just behind, Fisichella got away cleanly in an uneventful start.
Seven laps in and Rosberg was gone, his engine blown and the hype developed after his superb grand prix debut in Bahrain deflated. It left the field for Webber to make a charge at Alonso, but the Australian could find no way past the heavily fuelled Alonso in second and saw his race chances evaporate as Alonso bided his time. Webber would retire on lap 16, also with what looked like engine failure.
The day was a wash-out for McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen too as the Finn was taken out on the first lap by Red Bull's Christian Klien who smashed into the McLaren's rear and sent Raikkonen spinning into the tyre barriers.
It was a strange day too for Ferrari. The morning's controversy had lifted the team into the spotlight, but with Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa both needing replacement engines for their cars, grid positions of 13th and 21st respectively didn't promise much. Schumacher hauled himself grittily to sixth but it was to be Massa's day at the Scuderia, the Brazilian taking a hard-fought, one-stop, fifth.
Grand Prix of Malaysia at Sepang International Circuit:
1. G Fisichella (Italy) Renault 1:30:40.529
2. F Alonso (Spain) Renault +00:04.585
3. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 00:09.631
4. J P Montoya (Colombia) McLaren 00:39.351
5. F Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 00:43.254
6. M Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 00:43.854
7. J Villeneuve (Canada) BMW Sauber 01:20.461
8. R Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 01:21.288
9. J Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1 lap.
10. R Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1 lap.
Drivers Points: 1. F Alonso (Spain) Renault 18, 2. M Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 11, 3. J Button (Britain) Honda 11, 4. G Fisichella (Italy) Renault 10, 5. J P Montoya (Colombia) McLaren 9, 6. K Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 6, 7. F Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 4, 8. M Webber (Australia) Williams 3, 9. N Rosberg (Germany) Williams 2, 10. J Villeneuve (Canada) BMW Sauber 2, 11. R Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 1, 12. C Klien (Austria) Red Bull 1, 13. J Trulli (Italy) Toyota 0, 14. R Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 0, 15. D Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 0.
Constructors Points: 1. Renault 28; 2. Ferrari 15; 3. McLaren - Mercedes 15; 4. Honda 11; 5. Williams - Cosworth 5; 6. BMW Sauber 2; 7. Toyota 1; 8. RedBull - Ferrari 1; 9. Toro Rosso - Cosworth 0; 10. MF1 - Toyota 0 11. Super Aguri - Honda 0.
