Giancarlo Fisichella finally avenged the misfortune that has dogged him for more than a year by scoring the third win of his grand prix career in Malaysia on Sunday.

The Italian started on pole & drove a flawless race to the challenge from Renault team-mate & current world champion Fernando Alonso.

Britains Jenson Button came home a solid third dispite admitting that his Honda has along way to go before its able to match the Renaults on pace.

Juan Pablo Montoya finished a distant fourth for McLaren after a largely anonymous race, with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher rounding out the top six. The Maranello squad’s task was one of damage limitation after a series of engine failures saw both its drivers start near the back, but it was a surprise to see Massa beat his de facto team leader.

In all thoiugh it wasn’t a classic race by any means but what it did establish beyond doubt, however, was that relieving Renault of its drivers’ and constructors’ world titles will be a truly formidable challenge this season.

Malaysian Grand Prix result - 56 laps

1. FISICHELLA Renault 1h30m40.529s
2. ALONSO Renault +4.6s
3. BUTTON Honda +9.6s
4. MONTOYA McLaren +36.4s
5. MASSA Ferrari +43.3s
6. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari +43.9s
7. VILLENEUVE BMW +1m20.5s
8. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota +1m21.3s
9. TRULLI Toyota +1 lap
10. BARRICHELLO Honda +1 lap
11. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +2 laps
12. ALBERS Midland +2 laps
13. MONTEIRO Midland +2 laps
14. SATO Super Aguri +3 laps

Retirements

HEIDFELD BMW +8 laps
SPEED Toro Rosso +15 laps
IDE Super Aguri +23 laps
KLIEN Red Bull +30 laps
WEBBER Williams +41 laps
COULTHARD Red Bull +46 laps
ROSBERG Williams +50 laps
RAIKKONEN McLaren +56 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso 1m34.803s

The next race takes place in Melbourne, Austraila on April 2nd.

(this article was taken from cruisemidlands.com)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 21st, 2006 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Auto Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.