SEPANG, Malaysia, 20 March 2006 — Italian Giancarlo Fisichella won the Malaysian Grand Prix ahead of world champion Fernando Alonso yesterday for Renault’s first 1-2 finish in 24 years.
The 33-year-old Roman, who started on pole position, took his third career victory and first since last season’s Formula One season-opener in Australia.
Fisichella finished 4.5 seconds ahead of his Spanish team mate, with Briton Jenson Button, still chasing his first career win after 102 grands prix, rounding out the podium for Honda.
It was the French manufacturer’s first 1-2 since Frenchmen Rene Arnoux and Alain Prost did it in front of their home fans at Le Castellet in the turbo era of 1982. “It was a tough race, physically and mentally, but...the car balance was just fantastic,” said Fisichella, who paid his respects afterwards to a boyhood friend who died in an accident a week ago.
Alonso, who won the opening race in Bahrain last week, remains the championship leader with 18 points to the 11 of Ferrari’s seven-times champion Michael Schumacher — who finished seventh — and Button.
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth for McLaren ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who started on the back row of the grid and was a beneficiary of German Nick Heidfeld’s late engine failure. The Brazilian outshone teammate Schumacher’s run to sixth from 14th.
Jacques Villeneuve finished seventh to give the new BMW team their first points and Ralf Schumacher was eighth for Toyota after starting alongside Massa.
Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen crashed out of the race in the first lap after his McLaren was clipped by Christian Klien’s Red Bull.
