 Kimi Raikkonen scored a very convincing
victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix, while what should have been a
one-two finish for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro was not to be, as Felipe
Massa spun out of a safe second place on lap 31 of the 55 lap race.
The threat of rain and wind evaporated, unlike the perspiration in the
very humid conditions and when the lights went out, the two Ferrari men
had quite a fight heading for the first corner, but in the end and with
the advantage of starting from pole position, Massa got the upper hand.
Raikkonen was in close attendance and the Finn was followed by the
BMW-Sauber of Robert Kubica, the Red Bull-Renault of Mark Webber and
Jarno Trulli in the Toyota. Sixth and seventh on the opening lap were
the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen. These unusually
low positions came courtesy of the Stewards who, late on Saturday night,
decided that the McLaren duo had impeded another driver in the final
stages of Qualifying and were thus penalised with a five place drop on
the grid.
The gap between the two F2008s expanded, but only slightly, but they
were comfortably clear of the field in the early stages. One of the most
exciting moves came on lap 5, when Heidfeld's BMW joined Coulthard's Red
Bull and Alonso's Renault, all three men running in line abreast on this
very wide track. The German and the Spaniard both got ahead of the
Scotsman, the last two touching wheels. By this stage, Felipe put in a
few fastest laps to lead Kimi by 1.7s on lap 5 and 2 whole seconds a lap
later. Nakajima in the Williams-Toyota had gone from 22nd and last to
14th by lap 8, when it was Raikkonen's turn to set a fastest lap. From
here onwards the two team-mates traded fastest times, as attention
centred on Hamilton's attempts to pass Webber for fourth spot.
 Raikkonen inherited the lead when Massa pitted at the end of lap 16,
stopping for 8.5 seconds. Next time round the Finn's stop was slightly
quicker and this was enough for him to emerge from the pit lane just
ahead of the Brazilian, so they were now second and third behind Kubica
who had yet to stop. Any chance Hamilton had of a good finish ended when
he had a problem in his first pit stop.
As the race moved into its second half, the Ferrari duo seemed to have
everything under control, until Felipe spun off at Turn 7 on lap 31 and
was unable to get out of the gravel. The Brazilian admitted to clipping
the kerb one corner before he went off, so the team is currently
checking the car to see if this might have caused his exit from the
race. On lap 35, Kimi's lead over Kubica was over half a minute and he
made a trouble free 8.5 second final stop for fuel and tyres on lap 38,
which allowed Kubica to lead again until the Pole made his own stop.
Hamilton's race long pursuit of Webber paid off in the final stages and
then the Australian came under pressure from Alonso, managing to hold
him off to the flag.
 After fifty
five laps, Kimi duly buzzed the Ferrari pit wall in celebration of his
first win of the year, followed home by Kubica and Kovalainen on the
podium, with the remaining points going to Trulli, Hamilton, Heidfeld,
Webber and Alonso. Kimi is now second in the Drivers' Championship on 11
points, three behind Hamilton. In the Constructors' table,
McLaren-Mercedes are on 24, with BMW-Sauber second on 19, eight ahead of
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.
Stefano Domenicali:
"This has been a bittersweet Easter day. We are very happy with Kimi's
victory, but equally disappointed with Felipe's retirement as it robbed
us of a possible one-two. This weekend, we have shown what the team can
do after our very bad weekend in Melbourne. So, we were not cart horses
in Australia and we did not become phenomenons today. We know we still
have much to do to improve in terms of performance and, above all,
reliability. The team carried out its tasks well, showing in style that
it knows how to react. Congratulations to Kimi, who drove a superb race
and thanks to our commercial and technical partners, first and foremost,
Philip Morris and Shell."
Kimi Raikkonen: "I am very happy with this win, for me and for
the team. It's a shame that Felipe was unable to let us bring home a
result that was within our grasp. At the start I came alongside Felipe,
but I did not take any risks, knowing I was stopping one lap later than
him at the end of the first stint. When that time came, I pushed to the
maximum and I managed to come out of my pit stop ahead of him. From then
on, with a clear track ahead of me, the car was perfect I was able to
control the situation without having to stress the car or the tyres. We
are struggling a little bit in qualifying, but in the race we have a
very high potential. We have had a very complicated start to the season,
but I have certainly not lost faith in the team: we can still do
better."
Felipe Massa: "On lap 31, I clipped the kerb at the exit to Turn
6 and hit it quite hard and then I lost the rear end going into the next
corner. We have to check to see if the impact with the kerb damaged the
car. It's a real shame because we could have brought home a one-two
finish. Obviously this has been a very difficult start to the season for
me, but there is still a very long way to go. We have great potential,
as was seen today and so I am still confident. Naturally I hope to make
up for this soon, starting with the next race in Bahrain."
Luca Baldisserri: "Today we showed we had a clear advantage over
the opposition, but obviously there a slightly bitter feeling that we
did not manage to bring home maximum points today. It's a real shame,
because we could have made up for the bad start in Melbourne in fine
style, but there's no point in crying over spilt milk. Incidents such as
the one that befell Felipe are part of racing. We now have to prepare as
well as possible for the next round in Bahrain: our rivals will not be
twiddling their thumbs and we have to improve, especially in terms of
overall reliability."
Source - Ferrari Media |
