To be honest, it had looked ominous for the rest from the moment the Ferraris first rolled out of the garage and on to the Sepang track on Friday morning.

The Scuderia had flown from Australia tight-lipped with disgust at their opening race performance, on all counts, and with palpable determination to re-assert their position in what they consider to be Formula One’s natural scheme of things, they had worked with chilling efficiency to underline what most people knew: the Australian GP had been a freak, a one-off. Back on a proper racetrack, with far fewer of the variables that can apply at a street circuit used once a year, there would be no mistakes.

That, however, did not allow for the variable that is Felipe Massa. Having over-driven and lost control of his car in Melbourne, the young Brazilian arrived pursued by rumours that Ferrari were already considering their driving options. Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso’s bright young German, had already been signed for next season, said some Italian journalists; others reckoned Michael Schumacher was being sounded out to step in for the rest of the season, if necessary. Massa, put up for questioning at the Friday press conference, found himself answering questions about his future, as well as David Coulthard’s expletive-filled threat after Australia to punch his lights out for a passing manoeuvre the Scot considered ill-timed at best.

Massa handled it well. No, he wasn’t going to apologise to Coulthard because he didn’t believe he had anything to apologise for. As for himself, he had a three-year contract, in case we’d forgotten. He said other things, too, including that this is where the championship started.

But championships, as we saw last season, can be won and lost by a point, and having dropped a handful in Melbourne, he needed to be wheel-perfect here. Which he pretty much was, throughout Friday and Saturday practice, qualifying and for more than 26 laps of this race. True, team-mate Kimi Raikkonen had pinched the lead from him during the first round of pit-stops, jumping him by driving his in-lap, pit-lane, and out-lap just under a second faster, but Massa had made no mistakes.

And then, with no other cars within sight, he lost control of his car in turn eight, spun into the gravel, and that was that. On the pit wall, the face of Stefano Domenicali, the new director of the Ferrari team - and the man who took over from Jean Todt, whose son Nicolas just happens to be Massa’s manager - briefly displayed what can only have been a mixture of disappointment and anger. Massa had just dropped eight more points, to go with those left in Australia.

Domenicali might have been similarly disappointed when the smoke and flames that emerged from the back of Vettel’s Toro Rosso indicated another Ferrari engine - last season, a by-word for reliability - had expired. With Vettel’s team-mate Sebastien Bourdais having slid off on lap one, that meant Raikkonen’s was the only Ferrari engine left running, but the Finn was looking comfortable out at the front, and with a 20-second cushion over the BMW of Robert Kubica, the word went out to cut back on the revs. The manner in which Raikkonen eased home simply emphasised how Massa had let a Ferrari one-two go begging. Perhaps it came up in conversation when Domenicali accompanied Raikkonen on to the podium, to collect the constructor’s trophy.

That Raikkonen always had something in hand on his team-mate became more clear afterwards, when the Finn said that while their initial speeds were closely matched, once in clean air he had drawn away.

“We were close in the first stint, but once he went in my car got much better, because running one seconds, two seconds behind makes a massive difference [to its performance], and once I was in clean air I was able to pull away," he said. "The car was handling perfectly, and it was a pretty easy race from that point.”

Being beaten by Massa to pole was, he indicated, simply a case of not having been able to find the right grip during the final qualifying session. “I knew I was running longer than him, so I wasn’t really panicking. My car has been much stronger in the race than in qualifying, so I knew as long as I stayed close to him I’d have a good chance to pass him, and it worked out in the first pit stop.”

He might even have had a go at the first corner. “I got a bit better start and got alongside him, but in the situation of knowing I was running one lap longer, I didn’t want to risk the team going out in the first corner. If I had pushed harder I maybe could have made the pass, but I decided to stay behind and try my move at the pit stop, which would be better for everybody, and it worked out perfectly.”

The sight of a crocodile of spectators wearing Finland flag T-shirts weaving their way through the crowd confirmed that Heikki Kovalainen had finished third, behind Kubica. With his team-mate Nick Heidfeld finishing sixth, and setting the fastest lap of the race, it was another good day for BMW following Heidfeld’s unexpected second in Australia.

“I didn’t have a good start due to wheel-spin, and nearly lost the car under braking in the first turn,” Kubica said. “After that it was a case of trying to keep a consistent pace. I thought Mclaren would be stronger, a bit, but after the last pit stop we turned down the revs to try and keep the engine fresh for the next race.”

Kovalainen’s second consecutive podium confirmed his growing stature within the team. His steadiness in twice bringing the car home has impressed, and from eighth on the grid to third was a fair reward for his efforts. Ron Dennis, the McLaren team principal, has indicated that within a very few races he believes Kovalainen will be competing at a similar level to that of his team-mate. For him to have got one over on the Englishman at such an early stage suggests Dennis is right.

For Hamilton, it was a case of fighting to fifth. It might have been a podium had his mechanics not been faced with a sticking wheel nut at his first pit stop, but after that it was a case of damage limitation. The four points he picks up keep him at the head of the drivers’ championship, and may be crucial at the end of the season. Whether Massa will still be involved by then remains to be seen.

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