Brits on Pole

Following on from last week’s bit of fun, summing up everyone’s performances in Australia in just six words per driver or team, here’s our look at the winners and losers in Malaysia.

Overall race report

Ferrari fightback gives Kimi comfortable victory

Drivers

1: Kimi Raikkonen

This is more what we expected

2: Robert Kubica

Outpaced McLaren without unduly troubling Ferarri

3: Heikki Kovalainen

Won’t settle for being Hamilton’s sidekick

4: Jarno Trulli

Strong all weekend, fourth on merit

5: Lewis Hamilton

Off pace even without pitstop disaster

6: Nick Heidfeld

First corner impact cost him podium

7: Mark Webber

Solid drive without usual bad luck

8: Fernando Alonso

Establishing himself well in crowded midfield

9: David Coulthard

A cooler performance though sometimes outpaced

10: Jenson Button

Steady race contributes to Honda recovery

11: Nelson Piquet Jr

Unremarkable, but good recovery after Melbourne

12: Giancarlo Fisichella

Drove uncompetitive car to its limit

13: Rubens Barrichello

Fairly anonymous, suffered pitlane speeding penalty

14: Nico Rosberg

Forgettable race even without early incident

15: Anthony Davidson

Beat team-mate, sounded quite perky

16: Takuma Sato

Had traffic, ran wide, still pleased

17: Kazuki Nakajima

Initially racey until puncture, spun later

DNF: Sebastian Vettel

Was holding position when engine blew

DNF: Felipe Massa

Gave more ammunition to his critics

DNF: Adrian Sutil

Another mechanical retirement - hydraulics this time

DNF: Timo Glock

Unlucky exit, dumped out by Rosberg

DNF: Sebastien Bourdais

Philosophical about exit, will learn lessons

Teams

McLaren

Off pace, pitstop wrecked Hamilton’s fightback

BMW Sauber

Unlucky not to get double podium

Ferrari

Dominant weekend, Massa is weak link

Williams

Slumped badly after last week’s celebrations

Renault

Alonso solid, Piquet’s development is crucial

Toyota

Days like this give them hope

Red Bull

Questionable pace but hey - they finished

Toro Rosso

Early crash, blown engine - deja vu

Honda

Not near points, but still encouraging

Force India

Made good choice in signing Fisi

Super Aguri

Stabilising nicely after torrid few months

Thumbnail image from http://wordle.net

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