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Just another day in the office for Schumacher

SEPANG (MALAYSIA), MARCH 21. Michael Schumacher won his second consecutive race of the season on Sunday, taking the Malaysian Grand Prix with his Ferrari again easily ahead of the field. It was the 72nd career victory for the six-time world champion, finishing 5.0 seconds ahead of Juan-Pablo Montoya in a Williams-BMW, but slowing down markedly at the end.

BAR-Honda's Jenson Button of Britain was third, his first time on the podium, ending up 11.5 seconds behind Schumacher. Rubens Barrichello ran fourth. The chance for another 1-2 Ferrari finish after the season-opening Australian Grand Prix evaporated on the second lap when Barrichello missed a turn and ran wide dropping into fourth.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi presented the trophies, coinciding with the close in polls for general elections that were held the same day as the race.

Jarno Trulli was fifth in a Renault, and David Coulthard trailed sixth in a McLaren-Mercedes.

Renault's rising star Fernando Alonso of Spain ended seventh, more than 1 minute behind, but a strong showing after starting in the last row. He wore Spanish flags on his helmet and uniform in honour of the victims of the March 11 terrorist bombings at Madrid.

It was a bad day for the two previous winners of the race here on the 5.543-kilometer (3.3445-mile) Sepang International Circuit. Ralf Schumacher, the winner in 2002, barely lasted half of the 56-lap race when the engine of his Williams-BMW blew up. Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes, who won last year, went out on the 41st lap, his second non-finish this season for the 2003 season runner-up to Michael Schumacher.

After running practice in hot weather for the past two days, the tropical skies opened up with rain eight minutes before the scheduled start of the race. The rain lasted a few minutes, but wet the track before evaporating.

Raikkonen had a scare on the formation lap when he spun, but recovered in time.

Jaguar's Mark Webber of Australia, who was the surprise second in qualifying behind Schumacher, mistimed his start and allowed Barrichello to overtake him, sending the Ferraris into a 1-2 on the first corner to go easily ahead. But on the second lap, Barrichello went wide on a turn and allowed Montoya and Raikkonen to pass him.

Alonso, who had the pole last year, when he became the youngest driver at age 21 ever to gain a pole in Formula One, started in the last row after sliding out in qualifying on Saturday. The Spaniard blew past a half-dozen cars on the opening straight. By the end of the first lap, he was up to 10th, but it then became more difficult to pass cars.

Alonso had a slow 13-second pit stop and dropped back, then struggled to finish more than a minute behind Schumacher's pace.

Schumacher came in for an early pit stop at the end of the ninth lap, indicating the Ferraris started with light fuel loads. He dropped to seventh but moved up quickly when the others went in to the pits over the next three laps.

By the end of the 13th lap, Schumacher was back on top with about a four-second lead over Montoya, with Raikkonen another 4-5 seconds back. Schumacher started upping the advantage, and by the 25th lap was leading by 8.2 seconds.

After the second round of pit stops, around the 26th lap, things settled down with Schumacher holding about a 5-second margin over Montoya. After his final pit stop, Schumacher was some 10 seconds ahead for the final 10 laps until slowing dramatically in the final straightaway to salute his team. After winning in 2000 and 2001, the German came third in 2002 after an early bump with Montoya, and sixth in 2003 after a nick from Trulli.

The next race is the Bahrain Grand Prix, a new race on the Formula One schedule, on April 4.

AP

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