Clearly the Renault is still well off the pace of the front runners but we should give Alonso his due - he is getting as much from the car as it can give. He also provides strong motivation and direction to this team (as he didn’t to McLaren) and they can make up ground during the season.

It is great to see Fisichella answering his many critics with his performance on the track. I don’t hear so many plaudits for Sutil suddenly. Could it be that everyone got it wrong and he is not the great rookie talent that McLaren allegedly tried to steal from Force India before settling for Kovalainen? Well, well, I wonder where you heard that first…

Mr Vettel is another for whose “explosive talent” I still await proof. Yes, he was outstanding in qualifying in Melbourne but he was less impressive in Sepang. One swallow does not a summer make. Time to get moving, Sebastian - Sebastien is learning quickly…

This was a really good day to be a Force India/Fisichella fan, even if the cameras contrived to miss nearly all of it. Considering that Fisi had such a dodgy start (from a qualifying position that owed more to bad luck than anything else), I thought the way he patiently yet doggedly made up ground and places was great. If Fisi can get twelfth from there, what would he do with a better qualifying slot, a better start and/or rain?

As for the last statement, I can tell you that even some of the anti-Fisi people in one of the forums I frequent had to admit they were impressed by today’s run. And that was without anyone thinking to reference it to his replacement, which in Nelson Piquet Jr.’s case, I am beginning to believe should be placed in inverted commas. A dangerous line of thinking (there’s still time for him to turn out to be another Kovalainen) but I didn’t expect Piquet Jr to be faring so badly in the Renault this year.

I think Alonso had a point about the six-tenths, but I think he can only get the full thrust of that advantage when the car is perfect. The worse it is, the less of his natural advantage Alonso can use.

I think Force India will improve with time but twelfth is impressive to me. Renault won’t win until 2009 now. They’ll improve and if a wet race catches others out Alonso might land some luck, but other than that he’s gonna have to wait until next year at the earliest; the R28 just isn’t that great.

But, the good side of this is I think it saves Fisichella some. Those who called him crap last season are now back-tracking a little as Mr Sixth Tenths can’t do much more with the car.

With massa out 2nd time in a row (I’m quite happy with it,since I’m becomming the only anti-ferrari italian in the world) ferrari might have to give him some driving lessons in howto handle their car without tractioncontrol.

I’m pleased to se Trulli hitting some points, he really puched the car, and his one-hand driving skills are scary! 300kph and just hold the steeringwheel with one hand, impressive!

Fisico did well considering the barrel he is driving him, You’d expect that Force Indias THE “ex-jordan team” should have some improvements in their sleeves to become more competitive, don’ you think?

Renault really needs to push through with more new improvements now they are heading back to europe, otherwise alonso wont even get on the podium this year.