With Alonso having already taken the flag some 17 seconds earlier, the Spaniard weaving wildly across the track in celebration, the result not only confirmed
McLaren's first 1-2 since Brazil 2005, but also helped elevate the champion back to the head of the point standings. With the same three drivers appearing on the first two podia of the year, Alonso heads Raikkonen by two points, with Hamilton a similar gap behind the Finn.
Heidfeld picked up a second successive fourth place, having successfully kept the lacklustre Massa at bay for 50 laps, while Fisichella, Trulli and Kovalainen completed the scorers in an order that had shown little change for much of the afternoon.
The revelation of the afternoon, however, was McLaren's resurgence after being comprehensively beaten by Raikkonen in Australia. Alonso had claimed pre-race that the MP4-22 was much improved after testing at Sepang last week, but few would have imagined that it would become a Ferrari-beater overnight. Of course, there were extenuating circumstances - Hamilton holding up both Ferraris for the entire race - but if the season continues to provide competition like this between the top two teams, perhaps it won't be so predictable after all.
