Length: 5.443 km
Number of Laps: 56 (310.408 Km)
Best Lap: JP. Montoya - 1'34''223 (2004, Williams)
Record Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'33''074 (2004, Ferrari)
2005 Pole: F. Alonso - 1'35''090 (Renault)
2005 Podium: F. Alonso - J. Trulli - N. Heidfeld

The scene in 2006 was Sepang, and the event the Malaysian Grand Prix. Giancarlo Fisichella was the man at the front of the field, triumphing over his world champion teammate Fernando Alonso.

The delay in achieving such a result was surprising considering the success of the Anglo-French outfit last season.

However, on Sunday it all finally came together as Fisichella and Alonso romped home unchallenged to launch the team’s early championship bid.

The foundations of the attack had been put in place on Saturday afternoon when 33-year-old Fisichella claimed pole position during qualifying.

Renault had unwittingly split their strategies by putting double the desired amount of fuel in the Alonso car and thus restricting him to a lowly seventh place start.

However the heavy load in some ways strengthened Renault’s bid as Alonso could counteract the threat of McLaren who had put both their cars on a similarly conservative strategy.

On the final grid Alonso would line up directly behind McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya – moved up one position thanks to the penalty imposed on Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari – but by the end of the first turn he would be ahead.

Renault’s infamous launch control system not only put Alonso ahead of the McLarens, but ahead of the Williams’ of Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg as well.

The Spaniard moved up from seventh on the grid to an impressive P3 by the exit of turn one, slotting in behind Jenson Button’s Honda and his own teammate Fisichella, who was also clean off the line.

Raikkonen was still seen as the biggest threat, however this challenge only lasted a further two turns.

Red Bull Racing’s Christian Klien saw to the Finn’s demise after shunting into the McLaren’s right rear, breaking the suspension and eventually sending him into the barriers.

Montoya was still mounting a challenge in the second McLaren, but, like seven days ago in Bahrain, when the pace quickened the Colombian couldn’t compete.

Such luck at the beginning of the race made the afternoon more a challenge of engineering than pace.

Reliability would be the biggest threat to Renault as Fisichella and Alonso charged towards the chequered flag.

Button held firm in second position but, like Montoya, didn’t have the pace to provide much concern.

Fisichella eased away from the Briton to a margin of four seconds by the first round of stops, while Alonso, with plenty more fuel on board, just hovered at a threatening distance behind.

When Button pitted two laps later it was Alonso in the lead, Fisichella now seven seconds adrift in second.

The fight was clearly between the Renault pair and the decisive factor would be the number of stops that Alonso would make.

The tip was for Alonso, along with Montoya and the spate of cars that were pushed to the back of the grid due to engine failures, to just make the single stop.

However only Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Honda’s Rubens Barrichello could manage with a single addition of fuel, meaning Alonso would have to make his victory on the track.

He pushed hard and at times was catching his teammate at a rate of over a second per lap.

But whatever the Spaniard offered, Fisichella seemed to be able to control, even if his advantage was dwindling.

In the end, after the final round of stops, the pair were put head-to-head with 12 laps to run and a margin of eight seconds between them.

Fisichella led and Alonso put in two mesmerising laps to carve into his teammate’s advantage.

The Italian responded and put a tenth back on Alonso, and it proved a decisive blow as the fight was called off and both settled into a rhythm to survive the final laps.

Soon after Fisichella crossed the line for the final time to collect the chequer, his third race victory, and Renault’s first one-two in over 20 years.

Button eventually finished 13 seconds behind in a promising result for Honda.

The car was competitive but still lacked the final tenth of a second required for the push to victory.

The same was true of Montoya’s McLaren, which came home an eventual fourth.

He was threatened to the line by the Ferrari pairing of Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher, who were resurgent from their lowly grid positions.

Massa was rather impressive in his charge from 21st to fifth, out gunning his seven time champion teammate Schumacher who could only improve from 14th to sixth.

Seventh was the rejuvenated Jacques Villeneuve of BMW Sauber, tailed by Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota.

The top ten was rounded out by Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Barrichello.

Tonio Liuzzi (Toro Rosso), Christijan Albers (Midland), Tiago Monteiro (Midland), and Takuma Sato (Super Aguri) were the only other men to finish.

In all eight cars retired, led by the early exit of Raikkonen.

Klien was second, retiring with front suspension damage after the collision with Raikkonen.

The Austrian’s teammate David Coulthard was third with a hydraulic failure.

Rosberg and Webber, both of Williams, both suffered from expired Cosworth V8 engines.

Nick Heidfeld’s BMW, Yuji Ide’s Super Aguri Honda, and Scot Speed’s Toro Rosso Cosworth V10 all suffered a similar fate.

The teams now have two weeks to sort the reliability problems that were so prevalent at Sepang before the circus reforms in Melbourne, Australia.

Renault, one of the few who weren’t troubled by major dramas, will head down under supremely confident with two race wins under their belts already.

Last year Melbourne hosted the season opener and Fisichella had a similar pole-position-to-victory performance, which will further heighten spirits.

The reining champions have certainly hit the ground running and despite all the tough talking from their rivals remain the team to beat.