FERNANDO Alonso’s magnificent drive secured an unlikely victory for Ferrari at a chaotic Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. Few would have given the double world champion a sniff of a 28th career victory given Ferrari’s apparent lack of pace this season.
But rain in Malaysia – so strong that there was a 50-minute suspension of the race after nine laps – played into the Spaniard’s hands.
On a day which challenged the drivers Sauber’s Sergio Perez underlined his class with an electrifying drive for second place, while Lewis Hamilton ended the day third for McLaren for the second consecutive weekend.
Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top five, while Bruno Senna was another to drive superbly and claim sixth for Williams.
Scot Paul di Resta grabbed seventh for Force India, with Jean-Eric Vergne eighth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, and Michael Schumacher clinching Mercedes’ first point of the season in 10th.
There were casualties of the eventful race, with Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel suffering the biggest disappointments.
Button pitted five times after problems getting warmth into his tyres and clipping Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT, and there was no repeat of his stop-start heroics in Canada last year.
Defending world champion Vettel also collided with Karthikeyan eight laps out, sustaining a puncture, and after dropping out of the points places the German was instructed to retire on the final lap.
And as if to illustrate Alonso’s masterful performance, his team-mate Felipe Massa languished down in 15th after another race to forget.
With the field on intermediate tyres as the race began in showery conditions, Hamilton must have thought he had done enough to avoid a repeat of Melbourne when he defended his line into turn one at the start.
He stayed out in front as the weather worsened, forcing the suspension of the race.
It eventually resumed behind the safety car, with the McLarens holding their advantage when racing finally began on lap 13. But in the pits Hamilton lost ground when his crew could not find a gap to release him, costing him the lead.
Button, who had nipped ahead of his team-mate, then tangled with Karthikeyan with the race at his mercy. He had to stop for a new front wing and never recovered.
That left Alonso and Perez out in front, but in the drying conditions there appeared plenty of time for Hamilton or the Red Bulls behind him to close the gap.
But the only man who could take on Alonso was the Mexican. Having built up a seven-second lead, Alonso saw it whittled away lap by lap by Perez until he was just two seconds adrift.
When the drivers made the switch to dry-weather tyres Perez’s decision to stay out for another lap cost him five seconds in the chase to Alonso, but in five pulsating laps he clawed his way back to Alonso’s wing.
A first victory was there for the taking, but Perez ran wide when just half a second behind Alonso, losing precious seconds in race for the lead.
And Alonso, a veteran of 179 races, found a way to take the chequered flag and snatch the early lead in the drivers’ championship.(Eurosport).