The Malaysian Grand Prix turned out to be a classic. First we had a nail-biting down-to-the-wire qualifying session, with the top four drivers duking it out until the last second. This produced a finely balanced grid, with a Ferrari alongside a McLaren on the first and second rows, and with the mercurial Massa on pole. Of course we all knew that the Ferraris were going to be quicker, after Raikkonen’s domination of the Australian Grand Prix.
Except it didn’t turn out that way. 
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton forced their way to the front at the first corner, leaving Massa stuck in third. While Alonso raced away, Hamilton held back, holding a precise line and speed so that Massa couldn’t quite get past. On lap three, Massa outbraked Hamilton, but he was carrying too much energy into the corner and Hamilton slipped past. Three laps later Massa tried again and made the same mistake, but this time he wound up in the gravel trap. He rejoined in 5th, which is where he finished. (Perhaps Massa’s car was damaged, but I must say that I found his subdued driving after the off-track excursion very disappointing.)
For most of the race, Raikkonen remained a distant third; he was nursing an engine that had been damaged in Australia. But towards the end he decided to throw caution to the winds and attacked Hamilton. The Englishman was having troubles of his own – his water bottle was empty, and the track temperature was over 130F – and Raikkonen was running about half a second a lap quicker. That doesn’t sound much, but with a couple of laps left the gap was down to about one second. But Hamilton kept his nerve, and came home in second place. Two Grands Prix, two podium finishes – not a bad start to his career!