March 23, Malaysia, the second Grand Prix of the season, the first victory for Ferrari and  World Champion Kimi Raikkonen with confirmation that the fight for the Champoinship will be 'a matter between the red and McLaren Mercedes, BMW as a third force .

The weekend started good for the team from Maranello, in qualifying the two drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, in front of the Toyota of Jarno Trulli and the  BMW Sauber F1 of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld. Penalites for the McLarens hampered them some but we will talk about a few lines more 

Instead return to Ferrari:  'last week in Australia had seen that their race pace was very good and the struggle for victory was clearly within their grasp. Unfortunately, at that time, had a problem of trust 'linked to the engine, once solved it proved to show how dominating this race from the first lap and threatening to score the first one-two of the season if Massa had not committed that mistake that forced him to abandon the race. An error very heavy, because the points lost could be important for the Constructors' Championship: Felipe unfortunately has had a very troubled weekend and caused him a great deal of pressure which 'culminated with the error in the race.

 

As regards, however, the McLaren, I was a little 'surprised by their strategy because we saw that in the third stint with the hard tires, they were much more' competitive than they had been with the soft compounds. Still the choice of starting with the soft tires, for more 'traction at the start (because they were in the fifth row), but after I did not understand that they may have decided to continue on this path, especially in the light of the times marked by Kovalainen during the first part of the race. In my opinion this stopped them getting a better result.

At this moment without any doubt the strength of the third placed team 'BMW Sauber F1 is a delight to see, also Trulli in the Toyota. In my opinion, however, the couple Kubica-Heidfeld are 'most certainly' strong and fast and the BMW is being consolidated in third place.  Ready to exploit the mistakes of Ferrari and McLaren, could soon go to conquer the Top step of the podium.

Again Trulli and Toyota have done a great race, confirming the good results put on display a week earlier. Jarno Moreover, in recent steps, has 'been able to contain the attacks of Hamilton, to keep in close behind. For Glock he had some mistakes, although we need to see if  it was obvious that he had a problem with the car and perhaps this prevented him to complete his race.

 

Regarding the performance of Renault, in these first races will be their aim 'to do as many' points as possible. In my opinion, at least until the GP of Spain or until they bring in a new track aerodynamic package, they will suffer. While it is clear  the good fortune to have a twice world champion who once again has proven that he can make a difference. We record the rebirth of Nelson Piquet Jr. Who has shown at times on the track, to be equal to his team mate, having disposed of the bad performance in Australia and showed to be in recovery, which is fairly predictable because, in my view, he remains a very fast.driver.  Precisely Alonso, together with Heidfeld are the two drivers who were damaged by traffic on the track during the third part of qualifying, which led to a penalty of five positions of the two McLaren Mercedes driver. They had created a very dangerous situation, because the cars were on the racing line and so I think it is right to change this regulation to prevent any repetition of such incidents,

The performance of Williams and 'been characterized by ups and downs, but' one thing that we can say as a team in this a great performance. Arriving here after an extraordinary performance obtained on the track in Melbourne, while here and 'slightly more' undertone, but I think that is part of the game. Rosberg has showed once again that he deserves to drive a car more 'competitive and I sincerely hope that Williams will still help him grow and continue on the levels of the efforts he showed in Australia.

In conclusion I would congratulate Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen, who in a few days managed to turn in their favour a situation which he had seen in great difficulty 'in the first Grand Prix, Dominating throughout the weekend, qualifications with the pole position and for the entire race, leading from the first lap. The disappointment over Felipe Massa, was however to be seen. Perhaps I think he is not sure if he can fight with his companion and  after 2 Grand Prix is still with 0 points in the championship.

Let me repeat that I think the McLaren has the wrong strategy. For the rest, all the others have worked very well and also demonstrate more time 'close between the first and last pilot. Obviously the team more 'in trouble' is 'Super Aguri certainly, although we must remember that come from two very difficult months and then we must' let them work quiet to give them the opportunity 'to improve the performance of the car and get closer to others. Again  Force India, with Giancarlo Fisichella and 'managed to mark excellent feedback in the race, pointing out that this is a team which until last year was in a campaign for the last position.

Here, unfortunately, with the Minardi team we have never done particularly well, so I do not have specific memories, except that we were all fascinated by modern structures and fans. It was the first route of the new era of F1 (since then subsequently we have arrived at even more 'beautiful, modern tracks). Just this fall the tenth anniversary of this track that we had left at all fascinated. These tracks are part of the new era of modern Formula 1, while we in Europe run on tracks that have made the history of this championship.

Although we must wait two weeks for the next Grand Prix, I think that in Bahrain will still see a struggle between Ferrari and McLaren, as the gap with the other teams is still very broad. The others will only work hard to try to get closer, although the steps that can make at this time will be a few thousandths. During the winter meetings only Ferrari and Toyota have organised days of the testing at Bahrain and then will be favoured with regard to the setup of the car and wear and tear of tyres.

With this end and I meet in two weeks to discuss the Grand Prix of Bahrain. Greetings to all readers F1GrandPrix.it Gian Carlo