Kimi Raikkonen Takes Sepang Win

Photos courtesy of Formula One Administation

Well, it wasn’t quite as eventful as Melbourne, but Sepang threw up a couple of surprises which ended up seeing Kimi Raikkonen on the top step of the podium.Polesitter Felipe Massa was sitting in second place before he span it out half way through the race (Picture, top left). Robert Kubica gained, to take second place, and BMW’s second successive podium finish (Picture, bottom right). Heikki Kovalainen took the final place on the podium, which was a good finish considering he started eighth.

Result of the day, though, goes to Jarno Trulli. Many people had written Toyota off at the start of this year, but he qualified fifth fastest (being promoted to third after McLaren’s penalty) and finished just outside the podium places. Team mate Timo Glock, however, got spun round by Rosberg on the opening lap, (picture, bottom left) and the team didn’t want him to stay out. As for Rosberg, following last week’s superb podium finish, his tangle with Glock meant that he needed a new nose cone, and came in a lowly 17th.

No points either for Toro Rosso or Force India. Sutil limped off after a couple of laps with a mechanical fault, and Fisichella could manage only twelfth. Neither Toro Rosso managed to finish the race, with Vettel’s Ferrari engine giving up (picture, top right) and Bourdais was unable to follow-up his two points in Melbourne.

Hamilton came fifth, meaning that McLaren still managed to get both drivers into point scoring positions. Lewis did have a problem in the pits, when the mechanics were unable to get the front-right wheel off the car. For now, McLaren still have the edge over Ferrari, but after Kimi’s torrid weekend in Australia, he’s turned it around and lies three points behind Lewis Hamilton. The normally-scolding heat of Bahrain is coming up in two weeks time – who will have the edge in Sakhir?

Classification
1. K RAIKKONEN 1:31:18.555
2. R Kubica +19.5
3. H Kovalainen +38.4
4. J Trulli +45.8
5. L Hamilton +46.5
6. N Heidfeld +49.8
7. M Webber +1:08.1
8. F Alonso +1:10.0
9. D Coulthard +1:16.2
10. J Button +1:26.2
11. N Piquet +1:32.2
12. G Fisichella +1 Lap
13. R Barrichello +1 Lap
14. N Rosberg +1 Lap
15. A Davidson +1 Lap
16. T Sato +2 Laps
17. K Nakajima +2 Laps

Not Classified
S Vettel
F Massa
A Sutil
T Glock
S Bourdais