MOTOR SPORT/Malaysian Grand Prix: It had been coming. As Kimi Raikkonen stood atop the podium at yesterday's Malaysian Grand Prix to celebrate his maiden race win, thoughts went back all the way to France last year.
Then, the young Finn had delivered a drive of purpose, pace and intent that was only brought to an end by the most unfortunate of incidents. A handful of laps from home he dipped his McLaren wide into the circuit's last turn and hit oil deposited by the retired Toyota of Allan McNish. He slid out and could only wrestle his car back on track in time to see Michael Schumacher blast through the exit and on to victory.
But Raikkonen had proven himself worthy of becoming Mika Hakkinen's eventual successor at McLaren, and an adherent of his compatriot's philosophy of "maximum attack".
And yesterday, boosted by a much improved McLaren, a development version of the car that let him down eight times last season, he confirmed his talent. And already the question is being asked: if he can eclipse his vastly experienced team-mate, David Coulthard, this easily, how long before he taps on the door of Schumacher's throne room?
That remains in the lap of the gods, and the hands of Mercedes and McLaren designer Adrian Newey, who will arm Raikkonen with a new car when F1 hits Europe in a month. Yesterday the 23-year-old proved he can wield whatever weaponry he is given with skill and a sureness of hand that will once again raise eyebrows in Maranello.
Starting from seventh, Raikkonen admitted he had not qualified well, but added the rider that he knew his two-stop strategy was sound and that as he toured his McLaren around the Sepang circuit on the race's warm-up lap he was feeling confident of at least a chance of victory.
It came earlier than expected. Into turn one third-placed Michael Schumacher tangled with Renault's Jarno Trulli, who had started from the front row alongside pole-taking team-mate Fernando Alonso, the first all-Renault front row since Eddie Cheever and Alain Prost in 1983.
Schumacher erred, attempting an inside line into turn two, and clipped the rear left wheel of Trulli, a collision that sent both spinning off. It was to be the start of an eventful race for Schumacher, who pitted four times, including two regulation visits, a stop for crash damage and a drive-through penalty for causing an avoidable collision in that start, yet still managed to bring his Ferrari home sixth, for three points.
For Raikkonen, though, it was the race-making event and once it had passed, the Finn having nosed his way wide of Trulli's spinning Renault set about taking advantage. His team-mate, Coulthard, was in front but expired within a lap with a suspected electrical problem. Now, up ahead was just the 21-year-old Alonso.
The suspicion was Renault were running light fuel and would have to pit early. They were not as light as McLaren thought, however. Despite opening up a six-second gap to Raikkonen, Alonso did not dive towards the pits with the laps in single figures as many had predicted. McLaren would have their work cut out.
The Spaniard went for fuel and tyres on lap 14 and Raikkonen seized the chance, blasting through four laps to secure a time advantage before his own stop on 19. Alonso was also battling with third-placed Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari's challenger-in-chief as champion Schumacher drifted to the rear of the field.
The Brazilian soon rose to second. But Raikkonen's times continued to improve as his Michelin tyres outperformed Ferrari's Bridgestones in the soaring heat and he extended his lead through his final pit stop, emerging over 47 seconds ahead of Barrichello. With his pit crew displaying boards emblazoned with the word "easy", it was simply a case of Raikkonen babying his McLaren to the chequered flag and the beginning of what could be a McLaren revival.
Looking good, too, was Alsonso, who nursed himself and his car home to third despite suffering with a fever and from gearbox problems.
And again, it was the vindication of forecasts stretching back through the past three seasons.
Alonso lit up a cynical paddock in 2000 when news of his times from a test with Minardi filtered through in mid-season. He had matched and then eclipsed the team's race drivers - and he was just 18. Later that year he shone in a stand-out drive to victory in F3000 at Spa, the ultimate driver's circuit. Tongues began to wag and he was signed to a Renault Sport contract.
When he took his place beside Raikkonen on the podium yesterday, it was hard to escape the feeling that Malaysia had just presented the world with the future of Formula One.
But Schumacher still lurks, a moray eel of a driver. The others may, on rare occasions, overshadow him, but he is always capable of striking from the murk to inflict a killer blow.
For Jordan, yesterday was a day of gambles and gaffes. The risks were taken by rookie Ralph Firman, the mistake made by Giancarlo Fisichella.
The Italian, at the end of his warm-up lap, suddenly succumbed to brain fade, pulling his Jordan into the wrong grid slot, a mistake he had made in Malaysia before when he found himself on the wrong side of the Sepang grid when racing for Benetton in 2001.
This time as the lights went out he went to pull away only to find the launch control inactive. Exit Fisichella.
Firman's race was a battling affair. Laden with fuel for a one-stop strategy and on hard Bridgestones it was always going to be a big ask.A disastrous pit stop saw him stuck in his slot as the launch control failed and a manual start had to be effected, and to compound the damage an error saw the team unable to put in the requisite fuel. His final stint had to be run on a low revs mixture and even then he ran out of fuel as he crossed the line in 10th place.
HOW THEY FINISHED:
1, Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1hr 32min 22.195sec
2, Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari at 39.286sec
3, Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 64.007
4, Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW 88.026
5, Jarno Trulli (Ita) Renault at one lap
6, Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1 lap
7, Jenson Button (Br) BAR-Honda 1 lap
8, Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber 1 lap
9, Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Ger) Sauber 1 lap
10, Ralph Firman (Br) Jordan-Ford 1 lap
11, Cristiano da Matta (Bra) Toyota Racing 1 lap
12, Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW 3 laps
13, Jos Verstappen (Hol) Minardi 4 laps
Not Classified: A Pizzonia (Bra) Jaguar Racing (42 laps completed), J Wilson (Br) Minardi (41 laps), M Webber (Aus) Jaguar Racing (35 laps), O Panis (Fra) Toyota Racing (12 laps), D Coulthard (Br) McLaren-Mercedes (2 laps), G Fisichella (Ita) Jordan-Ford (0 laps), J Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda (0 laps).
Fastest Lap: M Schumacher 1:36.412 (on lap 45)
Drivers' Championship: 1 K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 16pts, 2 D Coulthard (Br) McLaren-Mercedes 10, 3= J P Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW 8, 3= M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 8, 3= J Trulli (Ita) Renault 8, 3= F Alonso (Spa) Renault 8, 7 RSchumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW 6, 8 H-H Frentzen (Ger) Sauber 3, 9 J Button (Br) BAR-Honda 2, 8 N Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber 1
Manufacturers' Championship: 1 McLaren-Mercedes 26pts, 2= Renault 16, 2= Ferrari 16, 4 Williams-BMW 14, 5 Sauber 4, 6 BAR-Honda 2.
