When Ferrari dominated in Qualifying people were saying they might be running light, but it was all proved wrong with superb pace on Sunday. Ferraris were the fastest, 1 second faster than any other car on track. The results were bang on target as predicted (I bet my money on KR winner, one of the BMWs and McLaren on Podium, Alonso either 5-6, problems for Williams).

The race was a real challenge for Hamilton, he is always the best starting from first row, and it was a test for him. He did fairly well but was hampered by a bad pit stop and some excellent driving by Mark Webber. But with a track like Sepang where 4 cars can go side by side and there are plenty of overtaking opportunities, it was not a good drive by Hamilton; he should have gone up to third position with the way car is performing.

It was Alonso again who was brining out 100% from his car and the way he is driving he is earning fans at faster rate than he lost last year. I am sure by end of the seasons Renault can give him a better car and he will start fighting for podium. It’s nice to see Alonso letting his driving do that talking.

Man of the Race: Mark Webber for his excellent drive and the way he defended his position from much faster Hamilton for more than 20 laps and then from Alonso in dying stages of the race.

Move of the Race: Fernando Alonso for his brilliant move in first few laps when quick Nick, DC and Alonso were side by side on long straight.

Looser of the Race: Filipe Massa for losing the brilliant chance to score some nice points, he beat Rosberg who had an extremely poor run.

PS: Covering the race live @F1 is so much fun, I am getting to interact with lot of new people.

The most important change this season is the way Q3 has been shifted from fuel-burning session to normal session, and that change has brought life into qualifying. If Massa and Kimi were flying in Ferraris it was Hamilton was not far behind, but a small mistake and he was out qualified by Heiki. Alonso was the best of the pack; his car was not even comparable to the Ferraris but with the discipline and perfect driving he found a place in Q3. I should say the more of Alonso action I see; I develop more admiration for his driving. Trulli was another hero with nice and clean driving qualifying at P5. Disappointment was Nico Rosberg’s performance, with last week’s result I was expecting much more.

Now we have to see how Alonso performs in the race tomorrow, if it’s a wet race I will put my money on Alonso for a podium. At the top it would be race between Ferrari and McLaren, it would be nice to see how Kimi and Hamilton who were outperformed by underdogs (Massa and Heiki) try to get back number one slot. Another thing to watch would be how Hamilton does from P4, his starts from anywhere other than front row have never been successful.

See you live tomorrow at @F1.

First race of the season with a lot of rules changes (no fuel burning session, no TC, no braking aid, same gear box for 4 races, shorter Q3) added a lot of excitement, but sadly only six cars would finish the race. Hopefully in coming races we see less accidents and breakdowns.

Race turned out to be disaster for Ferrari, starting from qualifying when Kimi’s car had engine issue and had to start from P15; Massa could not outpace BMWs and qualified at P4. Massa had an accident on lap 1 and after that he was trying to recover throughout the race. He made a mistake and took DC out of race and in next lap he had an engine failure. Kimi was aggressive and it looked that he will get podium with one pit stop strategy and brilliant driving, but one late braking incident took him to gravel and then he was in recovery mode, his engine also developed a problem and had to retired. None of the Ferrari engines (Ferrari, STR and FIF1) could finish the race.

Everybody is praising Hamilton and McLaren for the pace and comfort with which they won the race, but I would say real heroes were Kimi and Alonso who started from the back of the grid and one by one overtook similarly competitive cars. It was fun watching champions attacking from behind and gaining positions. Hamilton has failed both times (Nurburgring and Interlagos) starting from back, so I would say if he would have started anywhere near P10 the story would be completely different. This makes me think the true champion will win under any circumstances and Patrick Head’s suggestion of reversing the F1 grid is awesome!

Another impressive performance was from Ruben who drove brilliantly but for making two mistakes (jumping pit lane stop signal both times) was disqualified. Sebastien Bourdais drove exceptionally brilliantly in this first ever GP but sadly his engine blew in penultimate lap. Williams is improving nicely and would say will compete with front runners this season, Roseburg was impressive. Other rookie Timo Glock also performed well but had a big accident.

For FIF1 it was a disaster and hopefully they will bounce back, looking at the pace of Adrian Sutil in only 8 laps he did we can say this season they will definitely be better than last year.

First race of the season is almost there, Friday practice is over and Kimi Raikkonen is leading the time sheet. Looks pretty good for Ferrari, it seems we are going to have tough battle between Ferrari and McLaren. Surprisingly Mark Webber has edged out Alonso for fifth place, what are Red Bull guys running on! It’s nice to see Fisi on 12^th position with FIF1, but it could be because Williams didn’t do a proper run and BMW had some problems too.

My predictions for the race Kimi winner and there would be fight for second place between Hamilton and Massa, Alonso would secure some place in 4-6 and I hope FIF1 beats Super Aguri and compete with Honda and Toyota.

Albert Park here we come!

Complete result of first Friday practice