Results of the 2008 Malaysian F1 Grand Prix.
In contrast the first Grand Prix of the year, the race at Sepang was largely incident free and pedantic, as Ferrari struck back and took the honours this time. Kimi Räikkönen overtook pole sitter Felipe Massa after the first pit stop to finish 19.57 seconds ahead of BMW’s Robert Kubica and McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen - a career best for both these drivers.
Lewis Hamilton, who won the previous week will have been satisfied with fifth after suffering a five place grid penalty, delayed pit stop, poor choice of tyres and even a malfuctioning water bottle. He gave Jarno Trulli’s Toyota a serious challenge towards the end without result. Just behind him was Nick Heidfeld in the other BMW, while Mark Webber was a further 18 seconds back in seventh. Fernando Alonso picked up the last of the points.
There were no major incidents on the first lap, other than rookie Sebastien Bourdais sliding off into the sand to end the race for his Torro Rosso, and Timo Glock retired a lap into the race following a clash with Nico Rosberg, who fought his way back to 14th after exiting a lap down from a nose-cone change.
The real loser was Felipe Massa who looked comfortable leading a Ferrari one two, but lost out in the pit stops to his team-mate and then skidded off the track on lap 30 after taking a corner over aggressively. The only other retiree was Sebastian Vettel in the other Torro Rosso.
Hamilton made a brilliant start to mitigate his ninth place on the grid, snatching fifth by the third corner. He struggled to pass Mark Webber and a 10 second delay during his first pit stop placed him seventh behind Webber again. He was however able to pass him and Nick Heidfeld during his out laps on the second round of pit stops.
Fortunately his team-mate made the most of other drivers’ mistakes to ease up into third and cancel out the constructors point advantage from Raikkonen’s win. That leaves them on 24, 13 points ahead of Ferrari, with BMW placed second on 19. Hamilton continues to lead the Title race on 14, to Raikkonen’s 10, who is equal with Nick Heidfeld.
Improvements were confirmed to both the Red Bull and Honda cars as both again finished stronger than normal, though it is only Webber who has collected any points so far. Jarno Trulli’s forth place was Toyota’s best showing in two years. Renault on the other hand have been uncompetitive despite the return of former champion Alonso.
Results of the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix at Sepang:
- Kimi Räikkönen (Fin) Ferrari one hour 31 minutes 18.555 seconds
- Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber +19.570secs
- Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes +38.450
- Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota +45.832
- Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes +46.548
- Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +49.833
- Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault +1:08.130
- Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault +1:10.041
- David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault +1:16.220
- Jenson Button (GB) Honda +1:26.214
- Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault +1:32.202
- Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari one lap behind
- Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1 lap
- Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1 lap
- Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 1 lap
- Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 2 laps
- Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 2 laps
R Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 39 laps completed
R Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 30 laps
R Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 5 laps
R Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1 lap
R Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 laps