F1: Fisichella wins Malaysian GP

Sepang (Malaysia): Giancarlo Fisichella proved there is more than one race winner in the dominant Renault team on Sunday when he triumphed in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The popular Italian produced a determined and consistent drive to finish ahead of his Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso on a sweltering afternoon, but he was clearly delighted with his efforts.

It was the third win of Italian Fisichella's career and helped him fulfill his pledge to produce a brilliant race in memory of his close friend Pietro Saitta, who was killed in a road accident the previous Sunday.

Fisichella had dedicated his pole position triumph on Saturday to his friend.

The result gave Renault, the defending constructors'champions, a 1-2 victory on one of their favourite circuits and confirmed them as the dominant early force in this year's title race.

Briton Jenson Button, still seeking a first win after 102 Grand Prix, came home third for Honda.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya finished fourth for McLaren Mercedes, but his team-mate Finn Kimi Raikkonen crashed out on the opening lap.

Brazilian Felipe Massa was fifth for Ferrari ahead of his vastly more experienced team-mate, seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, who finished sixth in his slipstream as they crossed the line.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve was seventh for BMW and Ralf Schumacher eighth for Toyota.

Fisichella's win hoisted him up the embryonic drivers' championship standings behind defending champion Alonso of Spain.

Alonso, who won the season-opening race in Bahrain the previous weekend, leads the title race with 18 points. Fisichella has 10 while Button and Schumacher each have 11.

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The race began dramatically. In searing heat, Fisichella took the lead and kept it going into the first corner as Alonso moved from seventh to third, while 20-year-old rookie Nico Rosberg slipped back from third to seventh.

Even before the opening lap could be completed there was a spectacular incident in which title-contender Raikkonen in a McLaren Mercedes appeared to collide with Austrian Christian Klien's Red Bull.

He fought to control his car but spun off at turn eight into a gravel trap, smashing the rear wing off his car.

Raikkonen walked away unhurt but he now faces a major task in rebuilding his championship challenge.

Fiscichella reeled off a series of fastest laps to open up a clear lead before he pitted after 17 of the 56 laps.

By then, Klien had retired, probably due to the damage caused by his impact with Raikkonen, and so, too, had Rosberg, whose engine blew up after six laps in a wild blaze of smoke and flames.

His departure was soon followed by that of Briton David Coulthard, whose Red Bull was stuck in sixth gear.

Rosberg's Williams team-mate Mark Webber of Australia also pulled out in the early laps, sparks flying from the rear of his car.

These incidents and the pitting of Fisichella gave Button a brief taste of the lead until his own need for fuel allowed Alonso to take control.

The Spaniard led from lap 20 to the end of lap 26 when he, too, came in, and Fisichella took the ascendancy again. When the field settled down, after 28 laps, Alonso set a fastest lap in third and the front three were already 11.5 seconds clear of the rest.

Remarkably, fourth place belonged at this stage to the young Brazilian Felipe Massa who had worked his way up from 21st on the grid at the start without a pit stop.

His Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher was in seventh place, having pitted once, a sure sign that the Italian team are returning to their competitive best.

But at the half-way mark there was no doubting the power of the Renaults as Fisichella led and Alonso ran third, sandwiching Button's Honda who was hanging on in second place.

The second pit-stops did Button no favours as he wound up running fourth behind the slower Montoya and more than 13 seconds down on the two Renaults.

That meant Alonso, after one stop, was out in front of Fisichella, who after two was 8.2 seconds behind his team-mate. Montoya was then third, but like Alonso had made only one stop.

Montoya went in and then Alonso, for his second stop, after 43 laps. It was a rapid 6.4 seconds in-and-out leaving him to resume in second place, behind Fisichella but ahead of Button.

Michael Schumacher, driving consistently, had risen to fourth before he pitted a second time.