Formula One dominated by uncertainty

LONDON, England (CNN) -- "The more I see the less I know for sure." John Lennon's thoughts on life could easily be applied to this year's Formula One season.

After only two races, people who preferred the certainty on offer when Michael Schumacher was dominating the sport will be feeling quite nervy: Formula One appears to be a competitive sport again.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen's return to the top of the podium in Malaysia may have had a familiar ring to it but his team had trouble elsewhere.

Team-mate Felipe Massa spun out on lap 31, ruining their hopes of a one-two finish.

Ferrari, while appearing to have the two quickest cars on the Sepang circuit, did not set the fastest lap time of the day -- that honor was BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, who finished sixth.

Meanwhile his team-mate, Robert Kubica, finished second, making it two consecutive podium finishes for the quietly achieving German outfit who sit second in the constructors' championship.

Elsewhere McLaren, after suffering the ignominy of having Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen cop grid penalties in qualifying, still managed to bag third and fifth place, leaving them atop the drivers' and constructors' tables.

Toyota and Red Bull also picked up points, reflecting their improvement over the winter, while Fernando Alonso battled hard in his Renault to finish eighth; optimism is rife.

"We are very pleased with the early days of the season -- two podiums in two races, 19 points to our account and 11 points one go is a new record for us. That's all very positive and good basis for the next races," said Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport's director.

His technical director, Willy Rampf, was equally effusive.

"It [Malaysia] was another fantastic race for us. Only the Ferrari was faster than Robert [Kubica] ... we had no technical problems on either car. The performance was again very strong. Now highly motivated we ... look forward to the coming races."

Heidfeld chipped in, saying their cars were about the same pace as the McLarens, which was "really, really good."

Toyota's Jarno Trulli was delighted he could hold out Hamilton to claim fourth place.

"I just hope we can carry on improving the performance of the car, because as I mentioned at the end of winter testing we are looking strong. With Toyota's potential we can bounce back to the 2005 level [when they finished fourth in the constructors' championship] already this year."

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said Hamilton and Kovalainen had put in strong performances despite an "eventful weekend."

"Heikki had a great race dealing well with the traffic and achieving a well-deserved first podium position with the team ... the true pace of our cars was masked by the inherent understeer that comes when driving in traffic. We now look forward to the Bahrain Grand Prix."

Raikkonen was cautiously upbeat after Ferrari's turnaround in Malaysia.

"We never lost confidence in our team. Of course we had quite a difficult race in Australia [both cars had engine trouble], but the whole winter the car has been working well. It's been quick ... we didn't have any issues [in Malaysia] but you never know, we're still not 100 percent happy with things."

His caution is well considered. One of the season's early features has been the setbacks suffered by every team.

Only seven cars completed the race in Melbourne, a combination of engine problems and accidents accounting for the majority of the field.

The situation was reversed in Malaysia, with five cars not finishing, but one of those was Massa.

Hamilton, meanwhile, was delayed by a 20-second pit stop caused by a troublesome wheel nut.

Williams, who had high hopes for Malaysia after Nico Rosberg finished third in Melbourne, suffered when he collided with Toyota's Timo Glock and Kazuki Nakajima punctured a tire.

"The car was better in the race but despite trying everything I tried it really wasn't our weekend," lamented Rosberg.

Anyone banking on a return to predictability over the rest of the season needs to reconsider. There is no certainty in Formula One at the moment. E-mail to a friend

All About Felipe Massa • Lewis Hamilton • Nick Heidfeld • Robert Kubica • Jarno Trulli • Kimi Raikkonen • Nico Rosberg • Timo Glock • Kazuki Nakajima