SEPANG, Malaysia (AFP) -- Defending world champion Fernando Alonso proved Sunday he has no intention of letting his rivals steal his title with a perfectly-judged drive to win the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard led his young McLaren Mercedes-Benz teammate Lewis Hamilton home in a spectacular one-two triumph, as the pair handed out a lesson in race strategy to their rivals at the sweltering Sepang International Circuit.

It was the 16th victory of Alonso's career, his first for his new McLaren team in only his second race with them, and his second in Malaysia.

He won in 2005 and finished second last year, both results achieved while driving for Renault and en route to two successive world titles. "It is a perfect result, a dream," said Alonso. "This is such a tough race and you never know about tires, but we were relaxed in the end. I lost radio communications from lap ten, like Kimi (Raikkonen) in Australia, so it is a lucky thing! "But they fixed it and to win is absolutely fantastic and it is a wonderful surprise to achieve this after such a short time with the team. Everyone has worked so hard. So much has been done by the whole team."

Hamilton, 22, of Britain, confirmed the dazzling potential he demonstrated on his debut in Australia last month, when he finished third, by driving a perfect race in support and defense of his teammate on his own way to a well-deserved second place, 17 seconds behind Alonso.

Alonso's victory also ended a long 20-races McLaren drought.

It was their first win since they won in Japan in October 2005 and the first one-two since the Brazilian race that same year.

The result hoisted 25-year-old Alonso to the top of the embryonic world drivers' championship ahead of Raikkonen, who finished third for Ferrari ahead of German Nick Heidfeld in a BMW Sauber.

Raikkonen fought hard in the closing stages to close the gap on Hamilton, but the young tyro held him off to finish seven-tenths of a second ahead as they crossed the line. "That was the toughest race of my life," said Hamilton afterwards. "It was so difficult, so hard to defend. I ran out of water -- and now I feel overwhelmed!" "To see two Ferraris in your mirrors behind you and to know they are slightly lighter and probably quicker than you -- it is so difficult to hold them back."

Brazilian Felipe Massa, in the other Ferrari, who started from pole, made mistakes and finished fifth ahead of Italians Giancarlo Fisichella, who claimed sixth place for Renault, and Jarno Trulli, who finished seventh for Toyota.

On another sweltering day, with air temperatures hovering around 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit) and the track temperature climbing to 57 degrees, together with humidity of 58 percent, everyone felt the strain.

At the start, Alonso, in second place, made a smooth and powerful attack on pole-sitting Massa and swept ahead of him into the first right-hand bend.

Massa fought to recover but was swiftly outwitted again by the pace and intuition of Hamilton who shot through to claim second as the cars fought for road space and positions through turns two and three on the run towards the back straight.

Massa, frustrated, had to settle for third with Raikkonen fourth and neither Ferrari driver was able to do much about it.

Alonso settled into his rhythm and reeled off a series of fastest laps as he burnt off his fuel load.

Hamilton, in only his second Grand Prix, rode 'shotgun' behind him, allowing the Spaniard to open up a 14-second gap before the opening round of pit stops.

Once the leading group had all changed tires and refueled for the first time, the order was settled again with Alonso ten seconds clear of Hamilton as McLaren dominated ahead of Raikkonen, in his Ferrari, Heidfeld and Massa.

Hamilton, as expected, raced superbly to hold his position, notably in the early laps when he was attacked by the Ferraris and not only defended and resisted, but re-passed them brilliantly when either managed to overtake.