I won’t make any comment on the matter, other than to say they have put the situation perfectly.

But the biggest winner of the weekend was the neutral fan, as it is now clear that we have a real fight on our hands for this year’s World Championship.

Raikkonen led from the first pitstop and never looked back. His team-mate, Felipe Massa, returned to his 2007 ways with a good qualifying performance followed by a silly mistakes in the race. He spun out and leaves the first two races with no points.

McLaren’s weekend was nearly as bad as Ferrari’s was last week. Though Heikki Kovalainen did salvage a podium, Lewis Hamilton was left languishing in fifth place after a problematic pitstop.

Kubica took a career-best second place, making it two podiums in two races for the BMW team. Jarno Trulli impressed with fourth for Toyota, his best performance since the US GP of 2006. Nick Heidfeld (BMW), Mark Webber (Red Bull) and Fernando Alonso (Renault) took sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

The title race is now very close, with just three points separating the top three. And, interestingly, we still haven’t seen a straight fight between the two top teams.

It had been apparent in testing that the Ferraris and the McLarens had different strengths, so it is not surprising that we have had a dominant performance from each team in the first two races.

But the gap has been exaggerated by Raikkonen’s qualifying woes in Australia, McLaren’s grid penalty in Malaysia and Hamilton’s pitstop catastrophe. Let’s hope we can see the first proper fight between the two teams in two weeks’ time in Dubai.

Malaysian Grand Prix Result

1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari

2. KUBICA BMW +19.5s

3. KOVALAINEN McLaren +38.4s

4. TRULLI Toyota +45.8s

5. HAMILTON McLaren +46.5s

6. HEIDFELD BMW +49.8s

7. WEBBER Red Bull +1m08.1s

8. ALONSO Renault +1m10.0s

The drivers had finished their laps early due to the threat of rain and had been cruising into the pits to conserve fuel. It was on these in-laps that they were judged to have impeded BMW’s Heidfeld and Renault’s Alonso.

Read more about Hamilton and Kovalainen’s grid penalty

Following complains by Heidfeld and Alonso, the McLaren drivers have been summoned before the stewards.

Malaysian GP Qualifying - driver by driver

Felipe Massa

Massa returned to the kind of qualifying performances he showed last year. He declared himself ‘very happy’ after qualifying. More from Felipe Massa

Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi admits to not being happy with his run in Q3. More from Kimi Raikkonen

Heikki Kovalainen

Heikki says he has improved throughout the weekend and is pleased with a second consecutive third spot. More from Heikki Kovalainen

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton admits to doing a less than ‘perfect job’ in qualifying, complaining of a lack of grip in Q3. More from Lewis Hamilton

Jarno Trulli

Qualifying position proves progress, claims the Italian. More from Jarno Trulli

Robert Kubica

The Pole is ‘very disappointed’ with the outcome of qualifying. More from Robert Kubica

Nick Heidfeld

The German complained about drivers on their in-laps slowing him down. More from Nick Heidfeld

Mark Webber

Ever the optimist, the Australian states matters went ‘better than expected’. More from Mark Webber

Fernando Alonso

Alonso declares that his objectives were achieved. More from Fernando Alonso

Timo Glock

Timo is happy, but found the session difficult. More from Timo Glock

Jenson Button

Despite missing out on Q3, Button is happy. More from Jenson Button

David Coulthard

Surprised to be slower than in morning practice. More from David Coulthard

Nelson Piquet

Up where he should be after last week’s poor performance, but he is only ‘relatively satisfied’. More from Nelson Piquet

Rubens Barrichello

The team are impressed that Rubens made it to Q2. More from Rubens Barrichello

Sebastian Vettel

The circuit doesn’t suit the Toro Rosso, says Vettel. More from Sebastian Vettel

Nico Rosberg

The new surface hurt the Williams, claims Nico. More from Nico Rosberg

Giancarlo Fisichella

So close to Q2, but he didn’t quite make it. More from Giancarlo Fisichella

Kazuki Nakajima

The Japanese driver is looking for a consistent race. More from Kazuki Nakajima

Sebastien Bourdais

Bourdais hopes that ‘crazy weather’ will create the kind of carnage that allowed him to impress on his debut last week More from Sebastien Bourdais

Takuma Sato

The Japanese driver declares himself ‘pleased’ with his performance. More from Takuma Sato

Adrian Sutil

Car is not behaving like it should be. More from Adrian Sutil

Anthony Davidson

Despite coming last, Davidson feels the car has improved since last week. More from Anthony Davidson

In almost a complete reversal of what happened 12 years ago, it was Bernie Ecclestone who approached the BBC about the deal and not the other way around. Last time, the BBC was informed that ITV was paying £60m (as opposed to the BBC’s £6m) and that they would get no opportunity to counter the bid.

So why was Bernie courting the BBC? Is it normal for Bernie to do the chasing? It certainly isn’t the perception Ecclestone likes us to have of the way F1 works.

Is Bernie unhappy with ITV’s coverage? The channel’s F1 presentation has come under fire before, not least from Ross Brawn. “It’s a very frustrating business to watch F1 on British TV,” he said after watching races on his sabbatical year. His comment that “our commentators don’t seem very good at conveying what is going on” was most probably aimed at James Allen, who has proven unpopular with fans.

Maybe the “innovative ideas” the BBC has in the pipeline will make the coverage better in the eyes of Ross Brawn and other fans. It is interesting to note that ITV have put a lot of effort into providing live TV coverage from their website - and surprising too, considering they’re losing the rights at the end of the year. Were they fighting to keep F1 with the company? It seems unlikely that ITV, with all their millions, couldn’t pull some technical wizardry out of their hat to keep the BBC at bay.

Then there’s the financial conundrums. Back when ITV took over the coverage, they were able to offer ten times what the BBC had previously been paying, but the BBC wasn’t allowed a counter bid, so we don’t know how much the BBC had been willing to pay. But it seems impossible that they could afford to beat ITV in an all-out bidding war.

So, maybe ITV just didn’t want it anymore.

This would be surprising, considering the buzz around F1 that Lewis Hamilton has brought to the UK. But television advertising is a shrinking business and it is possible that ITV simply couldn’t afford it. They may have put in a lower offer to Ecclestone and Bernie - almost out of spite - then offered it the BBC, probably at a lower rate than ITV had been paying.

Still, at least the UK can return to watching uninterrupted coverage (no more bleeding car ads). And we’ll get Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain back on our screens.

For those of you who don’t remember the iconic BBC theme tune, here it is:

Stoddart sold the Minardi team to Red Bull at the end of 2005. Red Bull changed the name of the team - much to Minardi supporters’ horror - to Scuderia Toro Rosso. But rule changes for the 2010 season make the junior Red Bull team less of a good investment for Red Bull’s owner, Dietrich Mateschitz.

Names that have been linked to the team include A1GP chairman Tony Teixeira and Russian businessman Roustam Tariko.

Could Stoddart afford Toro Rosso? The backmarker Minardi team that Stoddart sold was a far cry from the midfield runner that is Toro Rosso - and therefore the market value will have gone up considerably. But the world of F1 finance is a complicated business and it is quite possible that Stoddart may have collected a bit more cash this time round.

If Stoddart does buy back the team, you heard it here first…

Lewis Hamilton had a perfect start to his season. And with both Massa and Raikkonen retiring (and his team mate Heikki down in fifth), Lewis couldn’t have asked for more.

Not only did Ferrari not score, they also looked very uncompetitive - nothing like how they’d looked in testing. Raikkonen also made some uncharacteristic mistakes.

Kovalainen had looked set for second, but the timing of the Safety Car made it difficult for him to pit when he wanted. Similarly, Kubica looked in line for a podium until problems beset him too.

Sebastian Bourdais joins one of the elite few that scores points on his debut, despite retiring from the race. There were only seven finishers, which left Bourdais as the last retiree to take the last point. He had been riding in fourth.

Williams and McLaren are the only teams to get both their cars to the finish. Not only did both Ferraris retire, but two Ferrari engines (including Bourdais’s Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso) also failed. Not good for Raikkonen’s title defence.

Result

1 Hamilton

2 Heidfeld

3 Rosberg

4 Alonso

5 Kovalainen

6 Nakajima*

7 Bourdais*

8 Raikkonen*

*Rubens Barichello disqualified for ignoring a red light. Other drivers move up.

Race - as it happened

Hamilton wins!

Kovalainen passes Alonso but is repassed.

Top four drivers will all equal and improve on their best ever position. Good performance from Bourdais on his debut. He’ll still score, as there are only 8 cars left!

Bourdais slows…

Raikkonen’s car sounds rough. He’s retired.

Barrichello takes his penalty.

Alonso passes Kovalainen.

Nakajima pits with broken nose, as does Kubica.

Kovalainen and Alonso pit and are now at the back of the pack in 9th and 10th.

Barrichello knocks over his fuel man. Should he even be in the pits yet? He is ‘under investigation’.

Amazingly, despite the debris, Glock’s car didn’t actually collide with anything but the ground after the gravel trap launched him into the air!

Massive crash for Glock. Safety Car out again.

Hamilton pits.

Raikkonen spins.

Alonso still needs to pit again. Likely that Raikkonen does not.

Sato is out too.

Piquet is out. There are now only 12 cars left.

Raikkonen pits

Massa is out.

Raikkonen tries to go aroudn Kovalainen but he goes wide and is off! He doesn’t retire, but he’s at the back of the pack now.

How long can Raikkonen stay out?

Safety Car in on this lap.

Kubica, Piquet, Glock, Nakajima all pit. Raikkonen doesn’t.

Raikkonen will now be able to pit under the safety car.

Massa and Coulthard crash! Coulthard is out, but Massa seems to be ok… So far. Safety Car deployed. Lots of debris.

Hamilton is back at the front, and Raikkonen has managed to sneak up to third! Though of course, he has to pit.

Rosberg, Heidfeld and Kovalainen have all pitted.

Alonso is now just outside the points, in 9th place. This year’s Renault looks no better than last year’s, as the Spaniard struggles to get past Coulthard’s Red Bulll.

Trulli retires in the pits

Raikkonen pushes past Barichello.

Lewis pits for his first of two stops. He rejoins in fourth

Kubica pits. So Hamilton was heavier and still manages to be a second a lap faster. Slots in behind Raikkonen.

Glock passes Sato.

There has been precious little movement since the first lap carnage. Other than Massa passing Piqet for 15th, everyone is holding position.

Hamilton now has 10 seconds on Kubica.

Raikkonen is struggling to get past Barrichello in seventh. He really needs to get on with his race.

With Kovalainen catching Kubica and pulling away from Rosberg, this is definitely a three horse race.

Sutil pits. It looks like he’s out too. Down to 16 runners.

Lewis goes around 1.3 seconds faster than Kubica.

Hamilton is really pulling away. He’s gone 0.6 seconds faster on the last sector alone.

We now have just 17 runners, with Massa at the back (having pitted). Ahead of him is Nakajima, Piquet and Bourdais. The back three in the race have just one race’s experience between them.

Davidson also retired in the first lap melee. Button has stopped too.

Raikkonen had a great start, from 15th up to 8

Webber’s car is in the pit garage.

Hamilton is eeking out a nice lead.

Kubica attacks but Hamilton defends well. Massa drops behind considerably with a damaged nose and pits. Vettel and Fisichella are out.

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the afternoon session and so dominated the headlines, but it was Kimi Raikkonen who set the fastest time of the day (in the morning session.

Ferrari were strongest on the short runs in the cooler morning temperatures, but McLaren were stronger in the longer runs in the hot afternoon, as James Allen on ITV-F1 explains.

However, as Joe Saward at GrandPrix.com points out, most drivers were concentrating on race set-ups, so the jury is still out on exactly who is where. Headlines are important, especially at the start of the season - was Lewis trying to steal Ferrari’s thunder by running slightly lighter?

Whatever the situation, Kimi Raikkonen has expressed his disappointment at how the first day panned out.

One of the surprises of the day was from Red Bull, with Mark Webber nearly taking the top spot in the afternoon.

This time last year, a young rookie had a shambolic debut for Renault, as Heikki Kovalainen made a mess of things, embarrassing everyone concerned. Is Nelson Piquet Jnr about to repeat those mistakes this year? He finished the day at the wrong end of the pack - let’s hope he picks things up quickly.

Toyota looked good on paper with two top-ten finishes, but neither driver was happy with the cars’ balance.

On the positive side, Force India looked good, especially in the hands of Fisichella.

This year is about unfinished business. Lewis Hamilton made history in his first year, but didn’t quite get the historic title he came so close to. McLaren want to prove they’re not cheaters. Alonso has to prove he isn’t going to throw his toys out of the pram every year. And Kimi, well, his first year at Ferrari was blighted by not being Schumacher - he’ll be wanting to show he can dominate just like the German could.

Further down the grid, we’ll have a close battle among the midfield teams and an intriguing battle between the two Toro Rosso drivers.

• F1 Preview: Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, BMW
• F1 Preview: Williams, Red Bull, Honda, Toyota
• F1 Preview: Toro Rosso, Force India, Super Aguri