Malaysia, physically one of the most demanding track. On Sunday it had a hot and humid weather with temperature meter showing 34 deg C and 57% humidity. The track temperature was extreme 55 deg C.

And boy!. Little past noon, the cars lined up on the track. One could see the sole Bridgestone dominating the flags everywhere. For the first time there is a white strip in the tyre with the Bridgestone mark.

So, 3 ..2 ..1 Go! starts the race. And a little slow start by Massa (well Ferrari) and fantastic overtake by McLarens from right on 1st corner makes the race Alonso <- Hamilton <- Massa <- Kimi

It was an amazing display of talent by Hamilton to break hard and get Massa on the greens on 6th lap. That made Massa who was dog chasing Hamilton go down to 5th place behind Nick Hiefield as Kimi started chasing Hamilton.

Niko Roseberg, a potential to watch this year made a superb overtake on the 11th lap putting him on 6th place secs behind Massa.

Lap 12 bang bang McClaren. The gap between the 2 McClaren drivers was increased to 11 sec with the increase of 1 sec per lap. By the time they were on lap 14, Alonso was cruising ahead by the difference was 13 sec ahead of Kimi and 20 sec ahead of Massa. Lap 16 - 15 sec difference from Kimi and 24 sec from Massa and the game was over.

The first pit stop for McClaren was 7.x sec and Ferrari had 9.x.

Seems the track took the toll on lap 31. Roseberg was asked to switch to Mode-4 of the engine. It means he had to reduce the power of the engine.

I thought I should write a line about what the car faces in speed drive and power brakes. The G-force at top speed (300 kmph, gear 7) is 0.2 with wheels rotating at 19,000 RPM all the way when one brakes at the sharp turn the G-force at the low speed (80 kmph, gear 2) is near to 4-G with wheels rotating at 1000 rpm.

Mode-4 did not help Roseberg and when there were 13 laps to the finish flag, Roseberg had a engine burnout issue. I'm sure there will be some thinking once they get back in the tents after the race.

12 laps to finish and Kimi started driving 1 sec faster than Hamilton per lap and was 7 sec away from Hamilton. 8 laps to go, 4.7 sec behind Hamilton .... 7 laps to go, 3.7 sec behind .... 5 laps to go and its 2.81 sec ... 3 laps to go and 2.1 sec difference .. Wow!!!

But the test driver of McClaren held the nerve -- throughout the race. He emerged the best driver of the race and 2nd best on the podium.

Finish Line had Alonso -> Hamilton -> Kimi -> Hiefield -> Massa.

All I can say, the race should be called as "The Hamilton Race" more than the McClaren race. We saw a better driver today and will be in days to come.

Cheers!