With Raikkonen's teammate Felipe Massa spinning out of second place at half-distance, and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton only managing third and fifth places following their qualifying penalties, Robert Kubica was able to take a career-best second place for BMW Sauber.
Massa's error spoiled what had looked like a dominant one-two finish for Ferrari.
The Brazilian had led from pole at first, fending off a strong challenge from Raikkonen into the first corner. But he was not able to pull away from the world champion, who remained within two seconds of his teammate throughout the first stint.
Raikkonen then went one lap further before his first pitstop, and a superb in-lap allowed him to emerge from the pits just ahead of Massa.
The Finn subsequently pulled away, and was nearly five seconds clear when Massa lost the rear of his car at Turn 8 on lap 30. The Ferrari slid sideways into the gravel, and its rear wheels bogged down, ending Massa's race.
That handed second place to Kubica. The Pole had jumped to third at the start, then had an extremely lonely race - unable to match the Ferraris but comfortably quicker than the rest of the field, including the delayed McLarens. Running longer than Ferrari also allowed Kubica to lead the race for several laps at both pitstops.
Hamilton made the most progress of the two McLarens at first, moving up from ninth on the grid to fifth by the first corner. But he then became stuck behind Mark Webber's Red Bull throughout the opening stint.
He was set to jump ahead of the Australian in the first pitstops, but a problem removing the right front wheel cost Hamilton over 10 seconds and dropped him back into the traffic again.
Kovalainen had no such troubles when he pitted a lap later, and was able to leap from seventh to fourth during the first stops. Massa's departure then elevated the Finn on to the podium for the first time in his McLaren career, albeit a long way behind Raikkonen and Kubica.
Jarno Trulli resisted a late challenge from Hamilton to secure fourth for Toyota. The Italian had lost ground at the first corner after banging wheels with BMW's Nick Heidfeld, but recovered well and was pushing Kovalainen for third during the middle stint.
He could not maintain that pace later on, though, falling away from the Finn and only just holding off the charging Hamilton at the end - the McLaren having finally cleared Webber's Red Bull at the second stops.
Heidfeld also got ahead of Webber during the final pit sequence, and duly took sixth place - setting fastest lap right at the end. Webber fended off Fernando Alonso (Renault) for seventh. Alonso had run very long stints, but lacked the pace on heavy fuel to make significant progress.
David Coulthard (Red Bull) overcame mid-race pressure from Honda's Jenson Button and Renault's Nelson Piquet to take ninth position.
Further back, Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella beat Rubens Barrichello (Honda) to 12th after the Brazilian received a pit lane speeding penalty.
A week after their Melbourne podium finish, Williams had a very poor race. Nico Rosberg tangled with Timo Glock on the first lap, taking the Toyota out of the race and breaking the Williams' front wing.
The German could only recover to 14th, while his teammate Kazuki Nakajima fell off the pace in the closing laps and dropped to last, behind the two Super Aguris.
Toro Rosso also had a very disappointing day. Sebastien Bourdais crashed out on the opening lap, while his teammate Sebastian Vettel was on course for 12th before a late engine failure.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
56 laps; 310.408km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1h31:18.555
2. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 19.570
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 38.450
4. Trulli Toyota (B) + 45.832
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 46.548
6. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 49.833
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:08.130
8. Alonso Renault (B) + 1:10.041
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:16.220
10. Button Honda (B) + 1:26.214
11. Piquet Renault (B) + 1:32.202
12. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
13. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1 lap
14. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
15. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 1 lap
16. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 2 laps
17. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Heidfeld, 1:35.366
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 41
Massa Ferrari (B) 31
Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 7
Glock Toyota (B) 2
Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1
World Championship standings, round 2:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Hamilton 14 1. McLaren-Mercedes 24
2. Raikkonen 11 2. BMW Sauber 19
3. Heidfeld 11 3. Ferrari 11
4. Kovalainen 10 4. Williams-Toyota 9
5. Kubica 8 5. Renault 6
6. Rosberg 6 6. Toyota 5
7. Alonso 6 7. Red Bull-Renault 2
8. Trulli 5 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
9. Nakajima 3
10. Webber 2
11. Bourdais 2
All timing unofficial
No comments:
Post a Comment