Humanity has got to be one of the strangest creatures on the planet. For a start, he walks on two legs, whereas most other mammals opt for four. He is also almost completely defenseless, with teeth that are hopeless for threatening anything bigger than a mouse and an unarmored skin that does not even have much hair for protection. Yet most other animals are scared of him. Weird, isn’t it?

But this is only the beginning of the odd decisions taken by evolution in designing mankind. There are aspects that can only be described as overkill and the perfect illustration of this is the F1 driver. Here is an animal that, without external aid, can reach a top speed of about 20 mph; yet has reflexes and processing power that enable him to control a vehicle going at ten times that speed.

Man lives on a planet that defines gravity in terms of itself – we live at 1G. Yet, for reasons known only to itself, evolution has decided to give him the power not only to exist at over 3G but to perform delicate and precise tasks at the same time. Then the humble backside, an anatomical part that cannot reasonably be expected to need more sensory perception than the discernment of the difference between a hard rock and a pillow, proves capable of sensing how much adhesion is left in four tires remotely connected to said backside through suspension parts, a car body and a seat. And all this happens while he is being shaken around, vibrated and thumped by his environment with an engine screaming in one ear and a disembodied electronic voice speaking to him in the other. Yet he copes with it all and even professes to enjoy the experience.

Our F1 driver, designed for a home of natural forces, turns out to be capable of functioning perfectly well at speeds, g-forces, pressures and sound levels many times that which could have been predicted before his brain allowed technology to make such things possible. What on earth made evolution design the human being with such huge tolerances above and beyond what could be expected?

If the human were a car, we would say he is massively over-engineered. He has no evolutionary need to cope with pressures so much greater than any encountered in the natural environment of Earth. It is as though evolution, in the act of fitting this harmless upright ape with a brain that could help him survive, had stopped suddenly and thought, “Hang on a mo, if I give the creature this brain he will eventually make things that go really fast and encounter forces that will rip him apart. I’d better give him a little more capacity for survival in such circumstances.”

Which, of course, is ridiculous – evolution doesn’t “think”. Pretty weird, isn’t it? Makes you wonder what’s really going on…

Apart from the first lap, there was not a great deal of overtaking in this Grand Prix. And yet it was very interesting. Perhaps most importantly, it illustrated that McLaren have closed the gap to Ferrari. Even had the McLarens not got the jump on Massa and Raikkonen at the start, they clearly were as quick and would not have been left behind if the Ferraris had grabbed the lead. When the Italian cars had nothing in front of them, they went no faster than they had been going behind Alonso and Hamilton.

Naturally, Jean Todt denied that this had anything to do with the tightening of the test for flexible floors, that it was merely that McLaren had found more improvements since Melbourne than Ferrari had, but I think there is more to it than that. The BMWs were able to run at Ferrari pace, as shown by Heidfeld keeping Massa at bay, and there was a string of cars just behind this pair; did everyone improve more than Ferrari?

Some of the loss of Ferrari’s advantage can be explained by Kimi’s reliability worries. He was obviously content to hold station rather than risk the engine and would have been better advised to take the penalty and show us the true pace of the Ferrari with a fresh engine, I think. In spite of his determination to pamper the engine for points rather than a win, he was able to stay with the McLarens; with a new engine, he could have bullied his way through to fight for the lead.

The Finn’s face in the post race press conference spoke volumes – he is with Ferrari to win the championship and, if that means sometimes he has to go a little slower and let Massa have the glory, he is prepared to do it. And the glow around Felipe is beginning to fade; this was a race that he expected to win but threw away in frustration when he lost his lead at the first corner. It is Raikkonen, not Massa, that Alonso will have to fight for his third championship in a row.

A little further back, Williams entertained us with a great drive from Rosberg that deserved better than retirement and a charge through the field from Wurz. Hopefully, the car will get even better and we can enjoy the sight of a Williams battling for the lead again.

The performance of the Renaults and Hondas was interesting, both racing much better than they qualified. This would indicate that their main problem is in adjusting to the Bridgestones, rather than fundamental flaws in the design of the cars. If they can get on top of the tire problem, they will leapfrog into the top ten, I think.

And give Fisichella his due: he is doing a far better job than his much-hyped Finnish teammate, driving the car as fast as it will go without drama and taking the points on offer.

Toyota performed their usual disappearing act, Trulli circulating anonymously in the final points positions while Ralf managed to find his way back to keep the tailenders company. If anyone drives like Fisichella’s reputation, it is the Toyota team!

Note that Super Aguri were not so impressive in Malaysia – they have slipped a little and now run with their natural competitors, the Toro Rossos. This is a trend that is likely to continue, since their car becomes ever more out of date as others develop their later designs and get them to work with the tires. Expect Toro Rosso to get better and better, however, as Red Bull get the RB3 sorted out and drop a few hints to their second team.

Finally, I have to say it: Scott Speed finished well ahead of Liuzzi. Yes, tell me that Vitantonio had a little argument with Sato that spoiled his race – the point is, Scott didn’t. He ran consistently with a gaggle of allegedly better cars throughout the race and brought it home in the end. Staying out of trouble is part of racecraft too, Gerhard…

Aerodynamics is an arcane science. In fact, to call it a science is probably giving it more credit than it is due – it remains an area where things can seem perfect in theory and the wind tunnel, but go hopelessly wrong when the car actually gets out on the track. That seems to be what has happened at Honda this year; according to all their calculations, this should have been the car to take them to the top, but in practice it has proved a huge step backwards. Super Aguri reap the benefits of development of last year’s chassis while the factory team scratch their heads in puzzlement as to what to do next.

It reminds me of the Arrows A2, the “Buzz Bomb” of 1979. On paper it should have been the best of the ground effect cars, with its extensive areas intended to suck the car to the ground like a leech; in reality, it was almost undriveable, porpoising down the straights as the low pressure area wandered around under the car as it pleased. The engineers slaved away with it all year, trying to make it work, but gave up in disgust and reverted to standard practice in 1980.

Not that the Honda is as obviously as bold an experiment as was the A2, but it may well be that the designers have made a similar mistake in pushing the theory further than it is ready to go. Aerodynamics has come a long way since the early days of ground effect but it is still a discipline in which there are few rules and practical experience remains the arbiter of what is right or wrong.

The change to Bridgestone tires has not helped either. Only McLaren and BMW of last year’s Michelin runners seem to have progressed in their understanding of how to make the Bridgestones work properly; the rest are struggling. And poor Honda has to work out how much of their car’s handling problems are due to the tires and how much to some undiscovered design flaw.

So is the Honda a bad car? It is far too early to say – there may be a tweak or modification that is all that is required to get the engineers moving in the right direction. But, even if that happens, there will be a mountain to climb to catch up to the front runners. Honda may not be down and out for this year’s championship but they have certainly made things very difficult for themselves.

Friday Practice in Malaysia was another inconclusive event, apart from proving that the Ferraris are still fastest. Felipe Massa was quickest in both sessions with Raikkonnen giving his impression of a man merely waiting until it counts before revealing his hand. No prizes for guessing who will be on pole, particularly as the team maintain there will be no engine changes this time round.

The speed of the Renault and Williams cars was interesting, even though both teams insisted that it meant nothing. No doubt they will be a little slower with race fuel and tires but the signs are still hopeful that things are improving for them.

In contrast, BMW hit problems, finding it difficult to set the cars up correctly and slipping down the time sheets as a result. McLaren too lagged a bit behind their usual performance but that will prove a temporary thing, I’m sure.

The award for consistency has to go to Honda and Toyota, both mystified as to why their cars behave so badly and outpaced by their “B teams”. It must be very tempting for Toyota to borrow Alex Wurz from Williams to find out what they’re doing wrong. Honda, unfortunately, does not even have that possibility although, if Colin Kolles manages to stop Super Aguri running last year’s Hondas, the parent company could always ask for their ball back.

In qualifying we can expect it to be business as usual, with the Ferraris at the front, McLaren just behind and either BMW or Renault thereafter. Williams should be a little closer, perhaps with both cars this time, and Toyota will fight with Red Bull and Super Aguri for the next spots.

It sounds as though the season is becoming predictable but I think all that will change once they get to Europe. Expect some sudden improvements in some of the teams at that point and some shuffling of the order as a result.