/ 23 March 2008

Raikkonen speeds to victory in Malaysia

Defending drivers’ world champion Kimi Raikkonen bounced back to form and back into the scrap for this year’s title when he won the Malaysian Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday.

But the Italian team’s hopes of a dream one-two finish just a week after their embarrassing failure in Australia, where both cars failed to complete the race, were wrecked by Brazilian Felipe Massa spinning off while running second.

This error by the Latin American gave Pole Robert Kubica in his BMW a perfect opportunity to finish second, and he did so with a calm and solid performance to come ahead of steadily improving Finn Heikki Kovalainen for McLaren Mercedes-Benz.

It was Kubica’s best result in Formula One.

Kovalainen’s McLaren teammate Briton Lewis Hamilton, who won in Australia, battled through a topsy-turvy race and various problems with pit stops and tactics to finish fifth behind Italian Jarno Trulli in a Toyota.

Raikkonen’s win was the 16th of his career and proved he is carrying no ”negative baggage” after his dismal outing at Albert Park where he spun twice but still managed to collect a point for being classified eighth.

It was also Raikkonen’s seventh win for Ferrari and his second win in Malaysia.

His win increased his total of points for the season to 11 after two races. This cut Hamilton’s lead at the top to just three points, the Englishman collecting four points.

German Nick Heidfeld finished sixth behind Hamilton in the second BMW after being caught up in a dramatic sequence of events at turn one on the opening lap.

Australian Mark Webber made up for his bad luck in his home race in Australia last Sunday by finishing seventh ahead of double champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, was eighth for Renault.

Two Britons, David Coulthard and Jenson Button, finished ninth and 10th for Red Bull and Honda on a day when, in contrast to last weekend’s contest of attrition that saw only seven finishers, 17 cars reached the conclusion. — Sapa-AFP