Bravissimo! Felipe Massa leads Ferrari 1-2 in GP Bahrain

Felipe Massa rebounded from his shaky start to the 2008 season by beating teammate Kimi Raikkonen to victory in a Ferrari-dominated Bahrain Grand Prix.

Pole-winner Robert Kubica took another podium for BMW in third, ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld - a result that puts the team into the lead of the constructors' championship for the first time in their short history.

But it was a disastrous day for pre-race championship leaders Lewis Hamilton and McLaren. The Briton lost seven places off the line with a very poor start, then hit former teammate Fernando Alonso and broke his front wing. He could only finish 13th, while teammate Heikki Kovalainen was a quiet fifth.

Massa instantly shot past front row partner Kubica and into the race lead at the start, with Kovalainen dodging around Hamilton to move up to third. The Finn out-muscled countryman Raikkonen through Turns 1 and 2, but was repassed by the world champion further ahead the opening lap.

Raikkonen then rapidly caught and passed Kubica for second, driving around the outside of the Pole at Turn 1 on lap three, while Kovalainen lost another place to Heidfeld when he ran wide on the same lap.

Hamilton's bad start had dropped him to 10th, and he was attempting to pass Alonso for ninth when he clipped the back of the Renault as they accelerated out of Turn 2. The McLaren briefly became airborne and lost its front wing, leaving Hamilton down in 18th and a minute behind the leaders after he pitted for repairs.

This tangle was one of several early incidents, with Jenson Button (Honda), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and David Coulthard (Red Bull) all having to pit with damage after a chaotic opening lap. Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel sustained broken suspension, while Renault driver Nelson Piquet spun down the order on the second lap. He recovered several positions before retiring with gearbox failure.

At the front, Massa edged away from Raikkonen and established a five-second early lead. Kubica kept Raikkonen under pressure until pitting on lap 17, three laps earlier than Raikkonen, who was the first Ferrari driver to stop.

With Kubica then losing time behind Toyota's Timo Glock, who was running a very long first stint, the Ferraris took control of the middle part of the race. Raikkonen narrowed Massa's advantage to three seconds with a series of fastest laps, but the Brazilian always had enough speed in hand and managed to rebuild his lead again.

By the time the final stops were completed, Massa's lead was back up to seven seconds, while Raikkonen had to focus on the resurgent Kubica, who stopped later than the Ferraris and got back within three seconds of second place. The Finn stayed ahead though, and now leads the championship.

Heidfeld also led several laps with an extremely late final stop, helping him to secure fourth, comfortably ahead of Kovalainen. The McLaren set the fastest lap of the race in the closing stages, but still finished nearly 30 seconds behind the victorious Massa.

Jarno Trulli had a very strong race to sixth for Toyota, pressuring Kovalainen in the middle stages. The Italian was able to pull away from the chasing Mark Webber (Red Bull), who passed Nico Rosberg's Williams for seventh at the first stops.

Glock's strategy allowed him to run as high as third, and he ultimately beat Alonso to ninth as the damaged Renault struggled to hold off Rubens Barrichello in the final laps.

Hamilton had to settle for 13th behind Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India, taking the place with a late move on Williams' Kazuki Nakajima.

Behind Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais and the two Super Aguris, Coulthard finished 18th after a collision with Button. The Honda driver attempted to pass Coulthard as both chased the midfield pack, but rode up over the side of the Red Bull and had to retire. Coulthard managed to rejoin and coax his battered car to the flag.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain;
57 laps; 308.238km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
1.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  1h31:06.970
2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +     3.339
3.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +     4.998
4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +     8.409
5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    26.789
6.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    41.314
7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    45.473
8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    55.889
9.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +  1:09.500
10.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +  1:17.181
11.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  +  1:17.862
12.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda     (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda     (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Kovalainen, 1:33.193

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Piquet        Renault               (B)    42
Button        Honda                 (B)    20
Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 3:              

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
1.  Raikkonen     19        1.  BMW Sauber             30
2.  Heidfeld      16        2.  Ferrari                29
3.  Hamilton      14        3.  McLaren-Mercedes       28
4.  Kovalainen    14        4.  Williams-Toyota        10
5.  Kubica        14        5.  Toyota                  8
6.  Massa         10        6.  Renault                 6
7.  Trulli         8        7.  Red Bull-Renault        4
8.  Rosberg        7        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      2
9.  Alonso         6     
10.  Webber         4     
11.  Nakajima       3     
12.  Bourdais       2     
   
All timing unofficial 

Post-qualifying press conference - Bahrain

Q: Congratulations, a fantastic day for you and quick too in Q2, third fastest without fuel on board, so a great day for you.

Robert Kubica: Yeah, I think after yesterday's good work in free practice two we have developed quite a lot. Qualifying went pretty well: Q1 and Q2 but Q3 I managed to do quite a good lap and got on pole position for the first time.

Q: I'm sure it was more than quite a good lap. Let's talk about that lap and also your emotions as you heard it was your first pole.

RK: Well, I started the lap pretty well, then in corner nine I locked the front wheels and unfortunately I flat-spotted the tyres, so it was not easy. I had a very big vibration and in the last three corners which are right-handers, it was very difficult but I managed not to make a mistake. The car was pulling to one side under braking but still it was enough for pole and I'm very happy.

Q: It's as if you now have to patent your Robert Kubica weight-loss diet. You lost six kilos before the season started, how much of a factor is that in your performance this year?

RK: I don't know. It's difficult to say but we have seen that with lighter drivers, if I was lighter, I would go a bit quicker, so I decided with my engineer to make a maximum effort to reduce weight from the car and from myself and I worked hard and this is the kind of result we can get from it. It was maximum effort, very hard for myself, but still I managed it.

Q: Felipe, on the front row of the grid, you've been sensationally quick all weekend, very very fast in Q2, it looks as if you lost a little bit of time towards the end of sector two on your final qualifying run.

Felipe Massa: Yeah, I definitely lost... I did incredible laps during the whole weekend and the car was just perfect all the time, and just in Q3 was the only time that I was behind cars all the time.

The first attempt, when I still set a good lap time, I was behind Nico the whole lap which was a shame because I managed to pull out a good gap and even braking for him to pass me, and then I did the whole lap behind him and it was already enough to maybe be close to pole, and the second try I was also held up by traffic.

Fernando made a small mistake and let me by but it wasn't a perfect lap. It's a shame but in a way I think we have a great car, we've shown great performance and I think we can be very strong tomorrow.

Q: Lewis, a spectacular accident yesterday, we all saw that, but a great recovery today to be third but I guess the Ferrari speed this morning and in Q2 was very impressive from your point of view.

Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, definitely, they seem to have outstanding pace at the moment, but going into qualifying I was quite happy with the balance that I had and I knew that we would be able to challenge at least for the front row. We're third, very very happy with that. I think it was a reasonably decent lap.

For sure, as always, there's time to gain and I think inevitably if it was a perfect lap, we probably could have had pole but I'll go back and I'll study it and look forward to the race but I think we have a good strategy and I think tomorrow will be quite interesting.

Q: Talk us through the effects of an accident like that. You said you're fine and probably there are no effects from your point of view, but what is the impact in terms of actual qualifying performance and indeed the race?

LH: For me, it makes absolutely no difference. I get back in the car and I go faster. I think today I actually went quicker through that corner than I did yesterday, the first lap I did. I think that's important to really knock down that barrier and bounce back. I never have problems with that. I've had plenty of experiences in my career.

Press Conference

Q: Robert, congratulations, it was interesting to see you being congratulated by all the other drivers when you were weighing in downstairs. What does it mean to you to be on pole for the first time?

RK: Well, of course, after missing the opportunity in Australia I'm very happy not to have to wait too long for another one and we've got it here. I think a very important job was done yesterday in free practice developing the set-up. Q1 and Q2 were so-so but Q3 runs were already good.

Already the first run in Q3 was very good but I made a mistake in the last corner and the second run was much better but I had a small flat spot in corner nine, braking into corner ten and there was quite a lot of vibration from the tyre, the car was pulling to one side, and I was not expecting to be on pole after this mistake but of course I'm very happy.

Q: How much have you expected this kind of performance this year?

RK: We were all expecting to be strong. Looking at the numbers in the wind tunnel during the winter and simulations of the new car, I was expecting it to be a very strong car but at the beginning of the winter testing we faced some problems but the guys worked very hard and I think this is an example of never giving up, even if there are problems, pushing as hard as possible and we managed to be ready in Australia with what was nearly the full potential of the car but of course there is still work to do. We will try to do our best and improve the car even more.

Q: Last year's pole man, Felipe Massa, sitting alongside. You've been so quick all weekend, you were fastest this morning by over 0.7s, were you a bit disappointed to be second on the grid?

FM: Well, in a way I'm happy with second, looking at how we look in the race, but for sure, I think even in Q3, looking at what we did in Q2, it was really possible to be in front. I was a little bit unlucky with traffic in Q3, I was always behind cars and I couldn't do very clean laps but it's good to be second, good to start in the front and I think we can be very strong tomorrow as we have shown all weekend.

Q: What was the tyre choice like? It was interesting in qualifying that most drivers seemed to go out on mediums and then on softs at the end?

FM: Well, for sure soft in qualifying is always the best and for the race we need to analyse tonight the best situation, how the track is going to be, how the grid is going to be, even taking the data from today but I don't think we have a lot of problems with the tyres here. Both seem pretty reasonable.

Q: Lewis, disappointed to be third after second last year?

LH: No, I wouldn't say it's disappointing but for sure we would prefer to be on pole, but I still think we... The team have done a great job to recover from the accident I had yesterday, the team stayed up all night, so a big thank you to them for preparing the car. It was great today. As Robert was saying, we all knew we were going to be very close this weekend.

Felipe was extremely quick, but we knew that we would be competing for a top three place for sure and I think these guys both did a great job. I was quite happy with my lap but there are always improvements that you can make but we're in a good position for the start tomorrow, so I am quite happy.

Q: Both of the Finns including your team-mate behind you, of course.

LH: Yes. What can I say really? It's good for me and I just need to make sure we get off to a good start tomorrow and we can try and pace ourselves from there.

Questions from the Floor

Q: (Panos Seitanidis - Drive Magazine) Question for Robert. First of all, do you think there's going to be a big party back home in Poland, and secondly, do you think that BMW has the race pace to have the same position tomorrow?

RK: I think that after the second place in Malaysia there were high expectations in Poland and I'm confident about the race as well. Yesterday we did some long runs and they went pretty OK and I think Ferrari was clearly the fastest but in the race anything can happen and we will now try to analyse the data and prepare for tomorrow's race as much as possible.

Q: (Michael Schmidt - Auto Motor und Sport) Felipe, you had been the fastest all the time in the first sector but it seemed that you lost time in Q3 in the second sector in both outings. Any problem there?

FM: No, no problem. I think on the first attempt I was pretty slow in the second and third sector because I was behind Rosberg during the whole lap, and on the last attempt I passed Fernando just before turn nine, but I don't think he held me up. I don't think there was any problem.

Q: (Ottavio Daviddi - Tuttosport) Robert, you undertook a slimming programme before the start of the season. Why did you decide to go on a diet and what kind of diet did you do?

LH: Stop having KFC and everything.

RK: We decided for some technical reasons to reduce the weight as much as possible and I tried to do my best in February and March and it was not easy because in the end, now I think I am weighing much less than normal, even for the average of 1.85m driver but still, it produces quite a good gain in the performance and I think this was in some way also the key to be so strong at the beginning of the season.

Q: (Jerome Bourret - L'Equipe) Question for all of you: is it a big advantage to start on the clean side of the track here?

RK: This year it's more difficult to get a perfect start because without all the electronic systems there is more benefit to do everything perfectly than from side to side. Even if you are on the clean side, if something goes wrong, you lose much more than someone who is on the dirty side and makes a good start.

FM: Well, it depends what sort of start you can make. For sure, if I need to chose, I always prefer the clean side but if you look at last year, I think you can see a good start as well. He (Lewis) almost passed me in turn one but I think you can also be strong on the dirty side, so let's wait and see tomorrow.

LH: For me I think last year starting second I got a slightly worse start than Felipe but I think it's going to be quite equal but I'm happy with being on the clean side, that's for sure.

Maiden F1 pole for Kubica, BMW in Bahrain

Robert Kubica took his and BMW Sauber's first Formula One pole position with a stunning lap in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Pole beat favourite Felipe Massa (Ferrari), who had dominated Friday practice, by 0.027 seconds.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen will share the second row.

Massa held provisional pole after the first flying laps of Q3, but only by 0.011 seconds over Kubica.

Hamilton then briefly beat both when he lapped in 1:33.292 on his second run, but the McLaren driver did not stay on top for long, as Kubica responded with a 1:33.096.

Although Massa's second lap was sufficient to reclaim the front row position from Hamilton, his time of 1:33.123 was not enough to beat the BMW driver to pole.

World champion Raikkonen could only manage fourth, three tenths of a second slower than teammate Massa. Heikki Kovalainen completed the top five in the second McLaren.

Kubica's teammate Nick Heidfeld was 0.7 seconds slower than the pole-sitter in sixth place for BMW.

Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Nico Rosberg (Williams) will share the fourth row, Trulli having been second fastest in the first qualifying segment.

Jenson Button got Honda into the top ten for the first time this season, edging up to 10th in the final moments of Q2 and then securing ninth place, just ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso. Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello will start 12th.

Red Bull Racing had a disappointing session. While Mark Webber missed out on a top ten spot by 0.009 seconds and will start 11th, while teammate David Coulthard blamed a straightforward lack of speed for his Q1 elimination after ending up 17th on the grid. He was 0.018 seconds away from making it through to Q2.

Timo Glock (Toyota), Nelson Piquet (Renault) and Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) could not match their respective teammates Trulli, Alonso and Rosberg, and were knocked out in Q2.

While Glock briefly made it up to ninth before other drivers' improvements pushed him back to 13th, Piquet and Nakajima's best efforts were only good enough for 14th and 16th.

Sebastien Bourdais out-qualified Toro Rosso teammate Sebastian Vettel for the first time and also made his first Q2 appearance. The Frenchman will start 15th, with Vettel only managing 19th.

Force India again failed to make it beyond Q1. Giancarlo Fisichella moved up to 18th with a last-gasp effort after abandoning his last flying lap following an error, while teammate Adrian Sutil was 20th.

The Super Aguris will fill the back row, with Anthony Davidson ahead of Takuma Sato for the first time this season.

The Japanese driver caused a brief red flag after spinning on the exit of the final corner, damaging his car's rear wing and suspension on the pit entry barrier.

Pos  Driver       Team                 Q1        Q2        Q3       Laps
1.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           1:32.893  1:31.745  1:33.096  12
2.  Massa        Ferrari              1:31.937  1:31.188  1:33.123  12
3.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     1:32.750  1:31.922  1:33.292  13
4.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              1:32.652  1:31.933  1:33.418  12
5.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     1:33.057  1:31.718  1:33.488  12
6.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           1:33.137  1:31.909  1:33.737  15
7.  Trulli       Toyota               1:32.493  1:32.159  1:33.994  19
8.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota      1:32.903  1:32.185  1:34.015  22
9.  Button       Honda                1:32.793  1:32.362  1:35.057  17
10.  Alonso       Renault              1:32.947  1:32.345  1:35.115  17
11.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     1:33.194  1:32.371            12
12.  Barrichello  Honda                1:32.944  1:32.508            12
13.  Glock        Toyota               1:32.800  1:32.528            15
14.  Piquet       Renault              1:32.975  1:32.790            15
15.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:33.415  1:32.915            15
16.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      1:33.386  1:32.943            15
17.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     1:33.433                       7
18.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  1:33.501                       5
19.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:33.562                       9
20.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  1:33.845                       6
21.  Davidson     Super Aguri-Honda    1:34.140                       9
22.  Sato         Super Aguri-Honda    1:35.725                       5

Niko Rosberg fastest in final practice - Bahrain

Williams driver Nico Rosberg continued his team's promising Bahrain Grand Prix weekend by going fastest in the final free practice session at Sakhir.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was second, having been fastest until teams switched to soft tyre runs and qualifying simulations in the closing minutes.

As has been their habit in final practice so far in 2008, Ferrari and McLaren appeared to focus on heavier fuel loads in preparation for Q3.

Massa was the only member of the usual top four near the front, as teammate Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in ninth, with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton in 10th and 18th respectively.

Ferrari sat out the first 37 minutes of the session - preferring to let their rivals clean away the dirt built up by the support races.

When Massa did emerge, he immediately showed his potential by leaping straight to the top of the timing screens with a 1:33.219 lap, beating early pace-setter Rosberg by 0.202 seconds.

Teammate Raikkonen made errors on both his first two flying laps, including a trip across the Turn 13 run-off area on his second lap. When he finally produced a clean lap at the third attempt, he was half a second slower than Massa.

After Hamilton damaged his McLaren's tub in his heavy practice accident on Friday afternoon, the team built up their spare chassis to use for the rest of the weekend.

Apart from a period when Hamilton held second place behind Rosberg, McLaren did not feature amongst the front-runners in the session.

Massa remained on top until the final minutes, when the wholesale switch to soft tyres saw a flurry of changes in the top ten. BMW's Robert Kubica was briefly fastest, but was pushed right back to seventh as others improved in the last minute.

Rosberg was first to usurp Kubica, lapping in 1:32.521. This was 0.205 seconds faster than Massa's final effort, with Mark Webber producing a similar late improvement to take third for Red Bull.

Toyota's Jarno Trulli, Webber's teammate David Coulthard and Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima completed the top six ahead of Kubica and Renault's Nelson Piquet.

The level of activity in the closing stages was such that the Hondas fell to 14th and 16th, having been third and fourth with three minutes remaining.

Times were also extremely close, with just 1.03 seconds covering the top 14 cars.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
1.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:32.521           17
2.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:32.726 + 0.205   10
3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:32.742 + 0.221   16
4.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:32.901 + 0.380   18
5.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:32.918 + 0.397   14
6.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:33.020 + 0.499   16
7.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:33.024 + 0.503   18
8.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:33.074 + 0.553   16
9.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:33.237 + 0.716   10
10.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:33.367 + 0.846   15
11.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:33.372 + 0.851   17
12.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:33.392 + 0.871   20
13.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:33.445 + 0.924   13
14.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:33.551 + 1.030   18
15.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:33.595 + 1.074   20
16.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:33.600 + 1.079   17
17.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:33.651 + 1.130   14
18.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:33.659 + 1.138   14
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:33.857 + 1.336   18
20.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:34.074 + 1.553   16
21.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:34.591 + 2.070   18
22.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:34.952 + 2.431   16

Massa fastest as Hamilton crashes out

Ferrari continued to dominate Bahrain Grand Prix practice in the second session, with Felipe Massa again leading teammate Kimi Raikkonen in a one-two.

The Brazilian ended the afternoon almost one second quicker than Raikkonen, having lapped in 1:31.420 in the final seconds.

McLaren finished third and fourth, but Lewis Hamilton ended the afternoon in the barriers.

The Briton lost control of his car on the exit of Turn 7 and spun across the track, hitting the opposite barriers side-on and causing heavy damage to the right-hand side of the car. Hamilton was unharmed in the incident.

Raikkonen and Hamilton swapped the top spot between them in the early stages, before Massa took control with a 1:32.722 lap, 0.127 seconds quicker than Hamilton's previous best.

Bar a few minutes when Raikkonen edged ahead with his final run, Massa remained on top for the rest of the afternoon. He improved his time to 1:32.393 on soft tyres, which Raikkonen beat by 0.066 seconds with three minutes remaining.

But Massa responded in emphatic style, going fastest by 0.907 seconds with his last lap of the day.

Heikki Kovalainen had languished near the foot of the top ten in the first half of the session, then improved to third later on. He was 0.095 seconds quicker then teammate Hamilton even before the latter's accident.

BMW's Robert Kubica finished the session in fifth place, 1.4 seconds off the pace but only 0.5 seconds behind Raikkonen.

Williams continued their strong morning form with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima taking sixth and eighth respectively, split by Red Bull driver David Coulthard.

Sebastien Bourdais was as high as second for Toro Rosso early in the session. He was eventually pushed back to ninth, ahead of Renault's Nelson Piquet, who was two places ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time               Laps
1.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:31.420            30
2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:32.327  + 0.907   30
3.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:32.752  + 1.332   30
4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:32.847  + 1.427   26
5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:32.915  + 1.495   29
6.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:33.022  + 1.602   34
7.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:33.048  + 1.628   27
8.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:33.098  + 1.678   33
9.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:33.197  + 1.777   37
10.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:33.247  + 1.827   37
11.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:33.710  + 2.290   33
12.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:33.755  + 2.335   26
13.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:33.782  + 2.362   34
14.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:33.822  + 2.402   38
15.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:33.856  + 2.436   30
16.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:33.966  + 2.546   35
17.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:34.023  + 2.603   36
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:34.388  + 2.968   35
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:34.405  + 2.985   34
20.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:34.787  + 3.367   30
21.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:35.288  + 3.868   24
22.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:35.712  + 4.292   25

Massa quickest in practice 1 - Bahrain

Felipe Massa led teammate Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari one-two in the first free practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Williams' Nico Rosberg took third with a late qualifying-style run, ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen.

The leading teams stayed in the pits for the first 35 minutes to allow others to clean the dusty track. Massa was the first major contender to set a time, and his 1:33.047 immediately outpaced early benchmark Jarno Trulli (Toyota) by half a second.

The Brazilian was swiftly beaten by Hamilton's 1:32.705, but both Ferraris stayed out and returned to the top later in their long runs. Massa regained first position with a 1:32.400, and although he was briefly usurped by teammate Raikkonen's 1:32.356, the Brazilian then produced a 1:32.233 to reclaim the top spot.

Raikkonen had to curtail his first run after sliding off the road at the final corner. The world champion took a detour across the very dusty run-off and had to pit to check for damage and for the accumulated dust to be cleaned out.

Unusually, the leading teams did not improve on their times on their subsequent outings, with Massa and Raikkonen staying first and second throughout the final 40 minutes.

The only change amongst the top five was Rosberg's late jump to third with a 1:32.415 lap. His teammate Kazuki Nakajima took sixth on the softer Bridgestones, behind Hamilton and Kovalainen.

Robert Kubica had been fifth for BMW for most of the morning, but was pushed back to seventh when the Williams duo vaulted up the order.

Trulli, Red Bull's David Coulthard and Renault driver Fernando Alonso completed the top ten.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time               Laps
1.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:32.233             20
2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:32.350  + 0.117    15
3.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:32.415  + 0.182    23
4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:32.705  + 0.472    21
5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:32.868  + 0.635    20
6.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:33.121  + 0.888    24
7.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:33.333  + 1.100    16
8.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:33.539  + 1.306    27
9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:33.788  + 1.555    20
10.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:33.815  + 1.582    19
11.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:33.929  + 1.696    28
12.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:33.950  + 1.717    20
13.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:33.981  + 1.748    24
14.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:34.106  + 1.873    17
15.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:34.235  + 2.002    27
16.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:34.321  + 2.088    32
17.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:34.892  + 2.659    20
18.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:34.915  + 2.682    16
19.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:35.174  + 2.941    12
20.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:35.429  + 3.196    22
21.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:36.145  + 3.912    6
22.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:36.536  + 4.303    6

FIA to tweak qualifying for Bahrain

The FIA is to revise the rules for qualifying in time for the Bahrain Grand Prix in a bid to ensure there is no repeat of the controversy that marred the session in Malaysia, autosport.com has learned.

In Sepang, a quirk in the current regulations meant that several drivers were touring slowly back to the pits in a bid to conserve fuel while other drivers were on their final qualifying laps.

This led to dangerous scenes when Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso had to weave their way past much slower cars, and resulted in Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton being penalized for blocking their rivals.

With that scenario having prompted widespread calls for the qualifying rules to change, the FIA is to issue an imminent clarification to the teams imposing a maximum laptime for drivers in qualifying.

This will prevent drivers from going too slowly after they have finished their qualifying runs.

It is similar to the rule that is in place for drivers on their reconnaissance laps to the grid - which was prompted by fears of collisions between cars going slowly to conserve fuel and those going fast to evaluate their set-up.

An FIA spokesman confirmed that teams will be notified of the decision to impose a maximum time limit, which is likely to be 120 percent of a normal lap.

"The matter is under discussion and our clarification to the teams and drivers will be that cars returning to the pits having completed their flying lap or laps will be required to do so within a time that we will set," the spokesman told autosport.com.

"This could be approximately 120% of the 'normal' time as we do to prevent drivers going very slowly to the grid to save fuel."

Schumacher to help distribute McLaren fine

Ferrari's retired world champion Michael Schumacher will help distribute $60 million paid by McLaren as punishment for last year's spying controversy, Formula One's governing body said on Wednesday.

The seven times world champion, who quit in 2006, will form part of a five-man management committee for the worldwide Motor Sport Safety Development Fund.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that the intention was to use the fund over the next five years to concentrate on three safety programmes for drivers, officials and facilities.

Other members of the committee are FIA president Max Mosley, former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt, Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug and Nick Craw who represents the national sporting associations.

Felipe Massa says new rules make Q3 boring

Felipe MassaFelipe Massa believes this year's regulations have made the final qualifying segment boring in comparison to previous seasons.

The final session has been shortened to 10 minutes for this year, eliminating the wasteful fuel burning seen last season at the start of the final round.

Refuelling is not allowed now between the end of qualifying and the start of the grand prix, which means drivers have to run in Q3 with the fuel they will start the race with.

Ferrari driver Massa says the change have made the final session boring.

The Brazilian also believes the governing body should look at introducing a new rule to avoid cars going too slowly at the end of qualifying, a problem that cost McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen a penalty in Malaysia.

"There has been plenty of talk about the new qualifying format and whether or not we need to introduce a means to stop cars slowing too much to save fuel in Q3 on the lap after their quick one and certainly I think we need to discuss the situation," said Massa.

"Personally, I don't find the new sporting regulations concerning qualifying in Q3 do much to make it more interesting. At least in the old one you got to do a low fuel run but now it's a bit boring running with the fuel you will use to start the race.

Q1 and Q2 are so long and then you have to wait in the garage and having a very heavy car to drive in Q3 is not really much fun, even if I put in a fantastic qualifying lap in Q3 in Malaysia to take pole position.

"In the past, it was a bit more fun from the driving point of view. Maybe we need a rule change because of this problem of cars going slowly on their in lap, but let's wait and see what suggestions people come up with."

Todt vows to help successor

Former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt has vowed to do everything he can to help his successor Stefano Domenicali adapt to his new role.

Todt stood down as team boss at the end of last year and, now acting as an advisor to the team, he has said he will give Domenicali all the support he needs to continue Ferrari's recent run of success.

Speaking in Sepang, Todt said that his years of experience would be of benefit to Domenicali if he ever felt he needed some help.

"It would be presumptuous to say (it is) advice," said Todt. "But we are talking about the tensions and the pressure, so to have somebody you trust and like, and share emotions and doubts and problems with is a help.

"Sometimes, the tendency of people retiring is to criticise and say you shouldn't have done that. That's not my style - I want to support them and help as much as they need."

Todt urges F1 to reduce costs

Formula One chiefs have been urged to do even more to help reduce costs in the sport.

Former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt believes that keeping F1's finances in check is the biggest challenge that faces F1 in the future.

"Definitely the cost of Formula One is very high," said Todt. "We cannot ignore there's an economic crisis in the world at the moment and you can see the prices of shares and all that.

"If a company wants to be in F1 it's because the costs are acceptable and it's worth being here. So even if the increase of the costs has dramatically slowed over the last three or four years it's still very expensive and [FIA president] Max [Mosley] has worked very hard with the support of the teams. That's the number one challenge.

"And then we need to make sure the regulations are suitable to the business because sometimes some regulations did not give the results people expected. But it's going in the right direction."

Raikkonen predicts tight battle for title!

Kimi Raikkonen is predicting a season-long tight battle for the championship following the first two rounds of the 2008 season.

The Ferrari driver dominated the Malaysian Grand Prix last Sunday, while rivals McLaren were unable to fight on top after being hit by penalties in qualifying.

A week earlier, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton had taken a commanding win in Australia while Ferrari had a weekend to forget.

"This is going to be a very tight battle all year long," wrote Raikkonen in a column on his personal website. "As I said before the first race, this season is very long. Now we have just started, and nobody can say what happens next.

"Obviously, we have a winning car. While everything works well, we have the speed to win races. We just need to get qualifying in a better shape. When the qualifying performance is there, it also helps a lot for the race."

He added: "Obviously, it was great to win again. I've got a really nice feeling while flying back home after the race on Sunday. The race was run exactly according to our plan.

"While we didn't have any problems, the speed is there. No doubt about that. Our car is strong enough to take, and to keep the first place."

Raikkonen admitted his win on Sunday had been easy and he claimed he could have gone faster if needed.

"It was an easy victory," he said. "We just took it really easy and saved the car and engine for the next race. I could have gone much faster, but there wasn't any need for that.

"I won my first ever Grand Prix in Malaysia too. As I remember, it was also pretty easy back then five years ago too. It just shows that when the car is working well, Sepang seems to suit me well."

Raikkonen is second in the standings, three points behind Hamilton.

Best Ferrari F1 and its pilots photography from last GP

Enjoy hi-res!

Disappointed Massa baffled by spin

Felipe Massa is hopeful he will be able to bounce back following another disappointing race in Malaysia on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver, starting from pole, looked set to finish in second place when he lost control of his car on lap 31 of the Sepang event, spinning into the gravel.

It was his second consecutive retirement following an engine problem in Australia.

"I feel for sure disappointed, it was not the start of the season that I expected and I feel very disappointed for what happened," said Massa after the race.

"We just need to concentrate, there are still 16 races to go, and we need to have a strong pace for the next race.

"It was for sure, as I said before, disappointing. It was a very safe first and second today and we couldn't finish with one car, we need to recover now."

The Brazilian admitted he was baffled by his spin.

"I had a strange feeling in Turn Six, I went into the kerb quite heavily and then when I went to turn Seven I just lost the car. It is difficult to explain right now what happened."

When asked if he had lost his car because of the lack of traction control, he said: "No. I didn't make a single mistake for the first day, so for sure that was not the case.

"It was not a corner where you need to go very aggressive on the throttle as well, it was a reasonable corner to do so I don't think it was an influence on that."

Luca Di Montezemolo hails Ferrari's reaction

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was overjoyed after the Italian squad bounced back from their disappointing Australian Grand Prix.

Just one week after both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa retired from the Melbourne race due to mechanical problems, the world champion took a commanding win in Sepang.

Ferrari looked set for a one-two, but Massa spun off the race on lap 31.

Despite that, di Montezemolo was delighted with Ferrari's reaction.

"I expected a reaction like this, because I know how strong and competitive our car and also our team is," said di Montezemolo.

"I am especially happy for Stefano Domenicali, as it was his first win as Team Principal of the Scuderia Ferrari, but also for Kimi Raikkonen, who drove a perfect race.

"This is the best Easter present we could give to our fans."

Q & A with Stefano Domenicali

Q. Does victory feel any better in your new position compared to last year when you were team manager?

Stefano Domenicali: Honestly, we are very happy in a way, because of course want to show the reaction of Ferrari. After a very different weekend in Australia, that was not really unfortunately our standard or it was something that was difficult to digest, first of all, from us.

So I'm very happy because we show that the team can do a great job. I think the best thing that I have seen is that we kept cool and calm as we are normally, without softening, in a negative way, the pressure that is normal when you have such a difficult start. But that's the main reason why I'm happy, to be honest.

Q. Is there a sense of relief after the problems in Australia, to come back with victory here?

SD: No, I think the sense of relief is connected to the fact that we really showed what is our potential. We were strong all weekend, very good pace on both tyre specs and that is, for us, the main thing, that is positive.

We knew that our car was good, so that's the reason why we are happy, partially, in a way, because of course what we want is to have let's say 18 points, because that's the way it has to be, that's the way we have to think and looking at the situation, it's like a bitter feeling because of course these are very important points. Nothing is lost because it's a very very long championship but points are always points.

Q. What happened to Felipe?

SD: He went on the kerb and now we need to understand if he lost the car or something has happened at that specific moment but it's not clear yet.

Q. After the engine failures in Australia, obviously you made some precautions here, but have you been 100 percent sure or was there still some nervous feeling about it?

SD: We are always sure after the chequered flag, and not enough because the chequered flag has to last two times for the engine and four times for the gearbox so for sure, what I can say is that in another view, the reliability is the main issue that we need to be very strong on.

Really, I'm not joking, it's really a different championship this year, with the four race gearbox, you never relax and this is the reason why we need to be focused on the way we are working in trying to improve every time the quality of everything, the method of working and this is really the most important thing where we will work very hard in the next days.

Q. Do the engines remain a big concern because of the problems that Force India and Toro Rosso had this weekend?

SD: It is a concern in a positive way. Of course we want to be sure 100 percent to understand what has happened and because our customers have to be satisfied what we are doing and of course we are not happy at all if we have something broken from our side, so we need to understand properly, we need to react and this is the reason why I say that is for sure our main target for the next days.

Q. The drivers swapped the lead in the pitstop. The same thing happened last year in France last year, I think and somewhere else as well. How difficult is it going to be to manage them this year to keep them both happy, one gets pole, but the other one then gets the lead at the stops?

SD: No, it's not very difficult, it's part of the work of the team. It's a fact that we have two very good drivers, they know the rules, they respect the rules and they can fight on the track, very free, without doing any damage, both for them and for the team.

On that respect, of course we discuss, also this morning, the way to handle the start because it was creating a moment and the way we did this was to check the starts in previous years, more than last year, and I think we did a good on that, and also on the strategy, our choice was really good. We didn't want to stress the tyres with a very heavy fuel load on the car and I think on that the team worked very well.

Q. Felipe did seem to be leaning on Kimi a bit going down to the first corner.

SD: No. When you're racing, you try to have a line, we discuss how to cope with that. Honestly, it was good.

Q. You said in Italian the McLarens were maybe not at their real level here...

SD: I think that for sure it's exactly the same feeling as we said after Australia, when everyone said McLaren are in another world and we said OK, they did a great race no doubt but here we are and we will see that they have not really had a great weekend, but this doesn't say that they are like that.

For sure they behaved differently, they didn't have a great weekend in terms of performance but for sure they will be very strong in Bahrain, and what I can say is that for sure we have seen that also BMW had a great weekend and they are there. We need to respect them and we will for sure… they will be in the middle of the field for sure in order to take points from us, from McLaren, so we need to have a lot of respect for them.

Q. Will it make the championship harder, because BMW eventually can take points away from your or from McLaren?

SD: Absolutely, I think as we said at the beginning of the season, the championship this year is very very long and the fact that we will have one more competitor that shows that they are good, for sure is an added element to take into consideration. Today, honestly, we were very strong, we took it very easy in the last part of the race because we wanted to save the car and bring it home because for sure for us it was so important to take the chequered flag.

Q. What about Bahrain?

SD: For sure the conditions are very different, we tested in February, now it's April, the temperatures are different but for sure we did a good test there and let's hope that it will bring some positive result being there in February.

Raikkonen storms to Malaysian GP win! Bravissimo!

Kimi Raikkonen got his title defence back on course with a dominant victory for Ferrari in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

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 

Kimi Raikkonen celebrates Ferrari fightback

Kimi Raikkonen was delighted after his Ferrari team managed to fight back in Malaysia following their dismal Australian Grand Prix.

The Finn, who retired from the Melbourne race, took a dominant victory in Sepang, crossing the finish line nearly 20 seconds in front of BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica.

Raikkonen's win, five years after he had scored his first at the same track, moved him to second place in the standings, just three points behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, winner in Australia.

"For sure we had quite a difficult weekend in Australia but I didn't really expect to have such difficulties," said Raikkonen after his 16th F1 win.

"We were not 100 percent sure things would be different here. We knew speed wise we would be fine, even in Australia the speed should have been fine.

"Everything worked perfectly here and we took it easy to make sure nothing went wrong. We saved the engine. It was a perfect job by the team to come back. I would have been happier with Felipe in second but things go wrong."

Raikkonen still reckons his Ferrari team have work to do, especially in order to improve their qualifying form.

"I think we still have some difficulties to get the qualifying right," he said. "It was good in Q2 but in the last session we found no grip on the tyres.

"We knew we were running one lap longer so we were not panicking and knew as long as we kept close I knew a good chance to pass him.

"The car was good all weekend, but sometimes it was difficult to get the best out the tyres."

Teammate Felipe Massa's race ended on lap 31 when the Brazilian, who had started from pole position, spun out at Turn Eight.

Todt touted again as Mosley successor

Former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt says he is 'open' to the idea of moving to a new kind of role within motorsport, amid speculation that he could be set for a switch to the FIA in the next few years.

It was announced last week that Todt has stepped down from his role as CEO of Ferrari, although he promised to continue in an advisory role with the Maranello outfit for up to three years.

The change of Todt's position has prompted speculation that he could be poised to become Max Mosley's eventual successor as FIA president. And, interestingly, the Frenchman drew short of denying the possibility when talking at Sepang this weekend.

Speaking in the Ferrari motorhome during a visit to the Malaysian Grand Prix, Todt made it clear that he does not intend to retire completely.

"Since Wednesday last week, I am a member of the (Ferrari) board, and an official advisor to the president of the company Luca di Montezemolo," explained Todt about his new role. "He is going to finish his role as president of Confindustria, so he will be able to come more often to Maranello.

"I will support him and the team for a determined period. So I'm determined to be present between one and three years, which will allow me to keep half of my time, which has not happened in the past 25 years.

"I've been fortunate I've never had to miss one day of working and will have half my time free and open a new professional and private chapter in my life. It is fantastic."

Todt is well aware of the speculation suggesting that he is a likely candidate to succeed Mosley. And, clearly motivated by the idea of a new challenge, he refused to deny the possibility of joining the FIA when asked about it.

"I'm still motivated," said Todt. "Max Mosley is a great president. I know he gets a lot of controversy but, for me, he has been outstanding for the sport and for the business. And he is a friend.

"He is one of the founders of our medical institute and he's somebody I respect very much. He's dedicated to the job and reliable. And it's fortunate to the sport that he will stay on for many more years because he is still a young man."

He added: "(But) I'm not going to speak about any speculation. I don't want to be put in a position. I'm not a young man, but I still have space.

"I feel I'm still too young to retire, let's put it that way, and I still want to have some challenge in my life. I never had time to think about it really because I was committed and focused to my work for 14 hours a day.

"So first, I will fulfil my obligation to Ferrari for half of my time, and the rest of my time will be spent trying to do some other things."

Lack of grip costs Raikkonen pole

Kimi Raikkonen admitted that second place was the best he could have hoped for after qualifying half a second behind teammate Felipe Massa to ensure a Ferrari lock-out of the front row in Malaysia.

The world champion, who was quickest in Q2, admitted that he could not find the grip he needed to challenge Massa, but added that he was unconcerned by missing out on pole position.

"I was not so happy with the Q3 but the car is good," he said. "We couldn't get the grip really, but anyhow second place is a good place to start, we should have a good strong car.

"It's going to be a long hot race tomorrow and we don't know about the weather yet so we are looking forward to it."

Raikkonen also remarked that there should be no surprise about Ferrari's return to form in Sepang, which he described as a more 'traditional' circuit than Melbourne, where neither Ferrari finished the race last weekend.

"I think this is a more normal circuit so the car has been quick all weekend," he said. "I think it is a completely different circuit [to Melbourne], so our car should be pretty fast everywhere, when you start from behind it is difficult to use your own speed, tomorrow should be okay."