2007 Malaysian Grand Prix

2007 Malaysian Grand Prix
Date	April 7, 2007
Round	2
Track	Sepang
Laps	56
Weather	Hot & Sunny
Pole Position
Driver	Felipe Massa
Time	1:35.043
Fastest Lap
Driver	Lewis Hamilton
Time	1:36.701

Sepang hosted the second round of the 2007 Formula One season.

The Williams seemed to return to form in practice, with Nico Rosberg in particular finishing high up the grid. Conversely, Renault and Honda struggled, continuing their slump in form.

Qualifying reflected this too. Alexander Wurz was the highest profile casualty after Qualifying 1, a gearbox problem leaving him unable to improve on 20th place. The two Spyker’s were in the last two slots, and Rubens Barrichello couldn’t get out of the bottom six either, coming in in 19th.

Qualifying 2 saw both Renault’s go out – with Heikki Kovalainen beating Giancarlo Fisichella. The Honda of Jenson Button also went out.

Qualifying 3 saw a great top 10 shootout. As the teams changed for new tryes, the McLaren and Ferrari were locked in a battle. First, Kimi Raikkonen went over the line in pole position. Fernando Alonso stole it just seconds later. Lewis Hamilton then went over the line in fourth, before a frantic Qualifying finished with Felipe Massa going over the line in pole position, leaving Alonso second, and Raikkonen third. Nick Heidfeld was fifth for the improved BMW, and Nico Rosberg was sixth for the improved Williams team.

The race started slightly later than usual, 3pm local time to allow a slightly later start for the European audience. The Ferraris had a poor start as Fernando Alonso led from Lewis Hamilton, with pole-sitter Felipe Massa third. Massa was then challenging Hamilton and looked to overtake him into Turn 4, before outbraking himself and flying off track, giving second back to Hamilton. Massa dropped back to fifth, behind Nick Heidfeld, and it was Kimi Raikkonen’s turn to try to pass Hamilton, but he was held up. This allowed Alonso to lead easily going into the first round of pit stops.

After the opening stops, Hamilton was shorter fuelled and not only pulled away from Raikkonen, but was catching Alonso, reducing his lead to within 8 seconds. Further back, Massa was still stuck behind the BMW of Heidfeld, with Rosberg driving excellently in sixth. The Renault’s were also working there way through the field towards the points positions.

The final stop saw no drama, and Alonso went clear after it to extend his lead and take the win. Behind him though, Raikkonen was catching Hamilton by half a second a lap, and reeling him in for second place. Rosberg unfortunately had to retire his Williams with a hydraulics failure. Hamilton managed to hold off Raikkonen on the last corner to secure second place, with Raikkonen third. Massa was a frustrated fifth behind Heidfeld. Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth for Renault, and Kovalainen got his first Formula One point when he finished in eighth place.

Fernando Alonso took the World Championship lead by two points from Kimi Raikkonen, with Lewis Hamilton two points further behind him. McLaren had a big lead in the Constructors’ Championship however, over the Ferraris.

[edit] Results

Rank	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	56	1:32:14.930	2	10
2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	56	+17.5 sec	4	8
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	56	+ 18.3 sec	3	6
4	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	56	+ 33.7 sec	5	5
5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	56	+36.7 sec	1	4
6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	56	+ 65.6 sec	12	3
7	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	56	+70.1 sec	8	2
8	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	56	+72.0 sec	11	1
9	Alexander Wurz	Williams	56	+89.9 sec	19
10	Mark Webber	Red Bull	56	+93.5 sec	10
11	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	55	+1 lap	22
12	Jenson Button	Honda	55	+1 lap	15
13	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri	55	+1 lap	14
14	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso	55	+1 lap	17
15	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	55	+1 lap	9
16	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri	55	+1 lap	18
17	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso	55	+1 lap	16
18	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	55	+1 lap	7
NC	Nico Rosberg	Williams	42	+14 laps	6
Ret	David Coulthard	Red Bull	36	Brakes	13
Ret	Christijan Albers	Spyker	7	Engine	20
Ret	Adrian Sutil	Spyker	0	Accident	21