Alonso wins Malaysian GP

Fernando Alonso London - Arabstoday   Fernando Alonso lifted Ferrari out of the doldrums with his 28th career victory at the end of a rain-hit Malaysian Grand Prix. Following a 50-minute delay after the race had been halted at the end of nine laps due to the wet conditions, it was Alonso who went on to master the elements at the Sepang International Circuit. The Spaniard was pushed to the limit by Mexico's  Sergio Perez, whose mistake on lap 50 arguably cost him a maiden race win for Sauber. Perez, a member of Ferrari's young driver academy and linked with taking up the underperforming Felipe Massa's seat, claimed second place, collecting more points in this one race than he did throughout all of last season. In a Ferrari that has so far been poor by the team's usual high standards, Alonso's win means he now leads the championship by five points from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who was forced to settle for third place after starting from pole for the second successive race. Alonso naturally admitted his win was "a big surprise," but knows there is more work ahead as it was not representative of their current performance. "We weren't competitive here nor in Australia," said Alonso. "Our goal is to score as many points as possible and today we've scored 25, so an unbelievable result for the team. We kept calm in extreme conditions, and congratulations to the team. They deserve this result. "But nothing changes for us to be honest. We're in a position we don't want, fighting to get into Q3 and fighting to score points rather than victories. "These first two races are positive, and going into the next few races there is stuff coming to improve the car, so we will see." As for Perez, he appreciated he should have been celebrating the win as he said: "I was catching Fernando towards the end. "It was not easy, and then I ran wide, touched the kerb went into the wet and I lost the win, probably. But the team has done an incredible job. I'm very happy for them." Opposed to last week's unhappiness at third, on this occasion Hamilton declared himself "satisfied". "We would love to have had more points this weekend," said Hamilton. "But I can't complain, I'm on the podium, I stayed out of trouble with the conditions constantly changing."