Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (My Sportsbook) - Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso captured Sunday's Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix Formula One race. The No.1 McLaren driver took the checkered flag 17.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

The victory was Alonso's first of the season, first with McLaren and 16th of his F1 career. His two title were with Renault.

Round two of the Formula One championship got underway beneath the blazing Malaysian sun and temperatures well above 90 degrees.

It was a brilliant start for the two McLaren-Mercedes drivers. Alonso went deep into the first turn to take the lead from pole winner Felipe Massa and Hamilton followed his teammate into second place with a pass of Massa in turn two.

Alonso quickly pulled away to a 1.7-second lead at the end of the first of 56 laps. Hamilton seemed to be holding up both Ferraris, but they couldn't make a clean pass of the rookie.

Alonso's lead was over five seconds after just four laps and both Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were getting frustrated. Massa made a wild move on lap five ending up in the grass and Raikkonen inherited third place.

Raikkonen then put the pressure on the rookie, but Hamilton wouldn't yield. They were both about 10 seconds behind Alonso after 10 laps. On the next three consecutive laps Alonso put up fastest laps of the day to expand his margin.

The first round of pit stops began and the first of the leaders to head down pit lane was Massa on lap 17. Then Raikkonen and Alonso pitted giving the race lead over to Hamilton.

Hamilton finally came in for fuel and tires on lap 20 giving the lead to Nick Heidfeld, who had yet to stop. Alonso was in second place and would retake the lead as soon as the BMW came down pit lane.

Meanwhile, Raikkonen was stuck behind Giancarlo Fisichella and losing more time to Alonso.

Alonso took the lead on lap 22, but Hamilton was putting up faster laps and closing in on the two-time champion. The gap was down to just under 10 seconds as the field passed the mid-point of the 56-lap race. Raikkonen, the winner of the season opener in Australia, was third 20.7 seconds behind the leader.

Alonso steadied his lead at about eight seconds as the laps continued to click down. Raikkonen was running at the same pace as the two McLarens, but not gaining.

Twenty laps to go and the teams readied for their final pit stops. Hamilton came in first and a quick 7.6-second stop got him out in third place. Alonso and Massa followed in short order, but Raikkonen had more fuel and stayed out.

Raikkonen had the lead, but finally had to give it up for his final stop on lap 41 dropping him back into third place behind Alonso and Hamilton.

Alonso was now in cruise control building the lead to 18 seconds. Hamilton was fading and in danger of being caught by Raikkonen just before the checkered flag. Raikkonen was gaining almost half-a-second a lap on Hamilton in one of the few on track battles as the laps dwindled to just a few. The gap was 3.3 second with five laps to go. Raikkonen caught Hamilton with two laps to go, but could he get around the rookie?

The answer was no, Hamilton made no errors and Raikkonen could never find a way around the McLaren.

Alonso won the race by 17.5 seconds and it was McLaren's first one-two finish since Brazil 2005.

Heidfeld, Massa, Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen completed the points-scoring positions.

Alonso has 18 points through two races, two more than Raikkonen and four ahead of his teammate Hamilton.

The series will return next Sunday for the Bahrain Grand Prix.