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SEPANG, Malaysia: Defending world champion Fernando Alonso proved on Sunday he has no intention of letting his rivals steal his title with a perfectly-judged drive to win the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard led his young McLaren Mercedes-Benz teammate Lewis Hamilton home in a spectacular one-two triumph, as the pair handed out a lesson in race strategy to their rivals at the sweltering Sepang International Circuit.
It was the 16th victory of Alonso's career, his first for his new McLaren team in only his second race with them, and his second in Malaysia.
He won in 2005 and finished second last year, both results achieved while driving for Renault and en route to two successive world titles.
Hamilton, 22, of Britain, confirmed the dazzling potential he demonstrated on his debut in Australia last month, when he finished third, by driving a perfect race in support and defence of his team-mate on his own way to well-deserved second place, 17 seconds behind Alonso.
Alonso's victory also ended a long 20-races McLaren drought.
It was their first win since they won in Japan in October 2005 and the first one-two since the Brazilian race that same year.
The result hoisted 25-year-old Alonso to the top of the embryonic world drivers' championship ahead of Raikkonen, who finished third for Ferrari ahead of German Nick Heidfeld in a BMW Sauber.
Raikkonen fought hard in the closing stages to close the gap on Hamilton, but the young tyro held him off to finish seven-tenths of a second ahead as they crossed the line.
Brazilian Felipe Massa, in the other Ferrari, who started from pole, made mistakes and finished fifth ahead of Italians Giancarlo Fisichella, who claimed sixth place for Renault, and Jarno Trulli, who finished seventh for Toyota.
Finland's 25-year-old Renault rookie Heikki Kovalainen scored his first point by finishing eighth, a solid answer to his critics after a disappointing race in Melbourne.
On another sweltering day, with air temperatures hovering around 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Faahrenheit) and the track climbing to 57 degrees, together with humidity of 58 per cent, everyone felt the strain.
On the grid, drivers were freely using white towels to wipe away heavy perspiration even before they had climbed into their cars.
At the start, Alonso, in second place, made a smooth and powerful attack on pole-sitting Massa and swept ahead of him into the first right-hand bend.
Like Hamilton's aggressive move at the first corner of the Australian Grand Prix last month, this was a clear statement of intent.
Massa fought to recover but was swiftly out-witted again by the pace and intuition of Hamilton who shot through to claim second as the cars fought for road space and positions through turns two and three on the run towards the back straight.
Massa, frustrated, had to settle for third with Raikkonen fourth and neither Ferrari driver was able to do much about it.
It was, without argument, a master-move in tactics, strategy and driving skill by the McLaren team and they led not only the first lap, as a result, but the opening stretch of the 56-laps race.
Alonso settled into his rhythm and reeled off a series of fastest laps as he burnt off his fuel load.
Hamilton, in only his second Grand Prix, rode 'shotgun' behind him, allowing the Spaniard to open up a 14-second gap before the opening round of pit stops.
These saw Hamilton lead briefly, but by then Ferrari's challenge had been hit by some rash attacking by Massa who, on lap six, failed in an attempt to pass Hamilton. He ran off at turn four and lost two places.
This left Raikkonen sitting in third. He was hardly content, but he wisely waited instead of pushing before Alonso pitted after 18 laps.
Behind him, Heidfeld had taken fourth place ahead of the enraged Massa who was in pursuit of his lost positions.
Heidfeld led, too, when Hamilton pitted, but once the leading group had all changed tyres and refuelled for the first time, the order was settled again with Alonso ten seconds clear of Hamilton as McLaren dominated ahead of Raikkonen, in his Ferrari, Heidfeld and Massa.
Hamilton, as expected, raced superbly to hold his position, notably in the early laps when he was attacked by the Ferraris and not only defended and resisted, but re-passed them brilliantly when either managed to overtake.
- AFP/so
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