FORMULA ONE: Kimi Raikkonen cruised to victory in Malaysia today to put Ferrari back on the winning track and cut Lewis Hamilton's lead to three points.
World champion Raikkonen failed to finish last weekend's
season-opener in Australia but the Finn sealed his 16th grand prix
victory when he took the lead from team mate Felipe Massa at the
first set of pitstops.
BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica finished second, the best result
of the Pole's Formula One career so far. McLaren's Heikki
Kovalainen was third with British team mate Hamilton having to
settle for fifth.
Massa's race came to an end on lap 31 when the Brazilian, who
started on pole position with Raikkonen alongside on an all-Ferrari
front row, spun out at turn eight and could not escape the gravel
trap.
"It was a pretty easy race from that first pitstop really,"
said Raikkonen. "We had quite a difficult weekend in Australia and
we were not 100 percent sure it was going to be any different here.
"But everything worked perfectly. This is a good start to the
season for us and we're in a pretty good position," added the Finn,
who scored a point in Australia after only seven cars were left
running at the finish and one of those was disqualified.
Hamilton, who started ninth on the grid after he and
Kovalainen collected five-place penalties for impeding rivals in
qualifying, finished behind Italian Jarno Trulli, who took a fine
fourth place for Toyota.
Nick Heidfeld (BMW), Mark Webber (Red Bull) and Spain's
double world champion Fernando Alonso (Renault) collected the rest
of the points.
Hamilton, who won in Melbourne, was fifth at the end of the
first lap but could not find a way past Australian Webber.
Problems in removing the McLaren's right front wheel at the
first pitstop cost Hamilton 20 seconds and ultimately wrecked his
chances of catching the leaders.
"I was pushing Mark for a long, long time but being behind
someone is extremely difficult so it doesn't matter how much
quicker you are, it makes it extremely difficult to get past," said
the 23-year-old.
"And then we were in with a good shot for third place and
then we had the wheel gun at the pitstop."
Kubica savoured BMW's second runners-up spot in a row
following Heidfeld's superb finish at Albert Park last week, but
said his team had to rein-in their expectations.
"It was a fantastic result for the team," said the Pole. "I
think we have to be happy with our place now, because at the start
of the season it didn't look so good," he added.
The 23-year-old conceded BMW were still trailing Ferrari in
terms of performance but was surprised McLaren, who dominated last
year's race in Malaysia with a one-two finish, had not posed more
of a challenge.
Kovalainen, on the podium for only the second time in a
career spanning just 19 grands prix, said McLaren had a lot to be
proud of after being hit by the penalties on Saturday.
The Finn qualified third fastest but started from eighth
because of the five-place drop.
"After yesterday's penalty it was going to be a hard day for
us. We have to be pleased with the results," he said. "We'd like to
be a couple of places higher but today, this was the maximum we
could do."
Hamilton leads the championship with 14 points after two
races, ahead of Raikkonen and Heidfeld with 11. Massa has yet to
score a point. The next race is in Bahrain on April 6th.
Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang:
1. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)
Ferrari
1:31:18.555
2. Robert Kubica
(Poland) BMW
Sauber +00:19.570
3. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland)
McLaren
00:38.450
4. Jarno Trulli
(Italy)
Toyota
00:45.832
5. Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
McLaren
00:46.548
6. Nick Heidfeld
(Germany) BMW
Sauber 00:49.833
7. Mark Webber
(Australia) Red
Bull
01:08.130
8. Fernando Alonso
(Spain)
Renault
01:10.041
9. David Coulthard (Britain) Red
Bull
01:16.220
10. Jenson Button (Britain)
Honda
01:26.214
11. Nelson Piquet
(Brazil)
Renault
01:32.202
12. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force
India
1 lap
13. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil)
Honda
1 lap
14. Nico Rosberg
(Germany)
Williams
1 lap
15. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super
Aguri
1 lap
16. Takuma Sato
(Japan) Super
Aguri 2
laps
17. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan)
Williams
2 laps
R. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro
Rosso
17 laps
R. Felipe Massa
(Brazil)
Ferrari
26 laps
R. Adrian Sutil (Germany)
Force India
51 laps
R. Timo Glock
(Germany)
Toyota
55 laps
R. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro
Rosso
55 laps
Fastest Lap:Nick Heidfeld, 1:35.366, lap 55.