UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Raikkonen romps home

Finn takes dominant win

A week is a long time in this game. First time out Ferrari endured a nightmare and were comprehensively shown up by rivals McLaren. In Malaysia the scene could hardly have been more different.

Qualifying penalties apart, the silver cars were on the back foot all weekend, while Maranellos finest looked assured and confident in comparison. BMW, therefore, found themselves as second best again, and deservedly so.

Felipe Massa has proved something of a qualifying expert lately and so it was again, the Brazilian starting from pole again and holding it nicely from team mate Kimi Raikkonen as the field stormed away.

Behind these two Nick Heidfeld had made a fine start only to be nudged to the far outside by Jarno Trulli in the Toyota, and found himself back in the midfield as the order settled down.

Robert Kubica capitalised on his second row position to run third, while Lewis Hamilton stormed through from his lowly starting position to cross the line fifth at the end of lap one.

A good number of battles sorted themselves out on that opening lap, but it was no surprise to have to wait until pit stop time for any changes in order (bar a nice move from Heidfeld who took advantage of a squabbling David Coutlhard and Fernando Alonso to jump them both.)

When Massa stopped for the first time Raikkonen did the usual, and popped in a fast lap then a blindingly fast in lap, and came out ahead after his own stop. This begs the question – how many times have we seen Michael Schumacher, and now Raikkonen, pull the same trick, and why aren’t the rest wise to it? Why – for example – did Massa not pre-empt the move, and put in his own succession of fast lap and stunning in lap to keep his place?

While Ferrari serenely pulled away at the front, McLaren had no such luck. Lewis Hamilton stayed still for twenty seconds as the mechanics wrestled with a troublesome front wheel nut, a problem that dropped the Englishman to behind Mark Webber, where he had been before the Australian stopped. Here he would stay for a good number of laps before the second round of stops helped him out.
Webber deserves mention for a fine drive – he kept the McLaren behind with consummate ease – but questions may be asked as to why a driver of his stature seemingly – mentally at least – accepted that the car behind was not the one he was racing, as evidenced by his radio conversation. Strange indeed.

At the second stops the Red Bull lost out to Heidfeld as well as Hamilton, and Lewis duly set about chasing down the Toyota for fourth place. He would get within a couple of seconds, but no more.

Ferrari looked set for a commanding one-two, but for Felipe Massa losing the car in the middle sector and beaching it irretrievably in a gravel trap. There have been mutterings about Felipe’s inability to cope with the car now he has no driver aids, but it seems only fair to give the man some credit – this was a simple mistake, one that could have happened to anyone.

The closing stages were characteristically dull, with Raikkonen coming home twenty seconds ahead of Kubica. The Pole had a lonely race to second, and was never challenged or looked likely to challenge. Still, a fine reward for a fine drive, and a second of what will surely be many visits to the podium for the BMW driver.

Kovalainen had a similar run, taking advantage of a long first stint to jump up the order, and the Finn – and the team – deserve credit for salvaging a podium place from an unlikely starting position. It was Heikki’s second podium, too, and here is another who will be a regular visitor in years to come.

Fourth represented an excellent performance from Jarno Trulli, the popular Italian seemingly buoyed by Toyota’s apparent improvement. He ran well all weekend, and thoroughly deserved the points. Toyota, it must be said, are currently candidates for most-improved team – let’s hope the Japanese giants are finally getting things togetherf.

Hamilton did the best he could in the circumstances – his late race hunting down of Trulli was impressive – but could not get past the Red Bull in the middle stages. This cost him dearly, although points on the day were all McLaren could conceivably hope for.

Webber drove a better race than an ultimate eighth place indicates, and Alonso again wrung the neck of the Renault to snatch the final available point.

David Coulthard came home ninth – just a few seconds off the points – and tenth went to Jenson Button, the Honda driver pleased with the progress made by the team.

Nelson Piquet was the last man on the lead lap – another lacklustre race from the Brazilian, but an improvement on Australia – and Giancarlo Fisichella delighted the Force India team with agutsy drive to twelfth.

Rubens Barrichello came home 13th, ahead of the first Williams of Nico Rosberg. Williams – a force in Australia – had a terrible weekend, with Nico losing time in a first lap incident and Kazuki Nakajima – starting from the back – having a very racy first stint before being delayed by a puncture later on. When running, the Japanese displayed again his undoubted speed with some impressive moves.

Super Aguri – remarkably – brought both cars home, with Anthony Davidson ahead of Takuma Sato. That in itself was an achievement.
In stark contrast to Australia only five cars failed to finish, these including both Toro Rosso’s – Sebastien Bourdais with an early off and Sebastian Vettel with a blown Ferrari engine – and the luckless Adrian Sutil, who had the Force India up to 14th place by lap five only to succumb to a hydraulic failure. Timo Glock – the Toyota in the collision with Rosberg at the start – and Massa were the final retirees.

A dominant performance from Raikkonen, then, that turned the Australia form book on its head. It is hard to know what to expect when the circus moves to Bahrain for the next round.

Written: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:15:26