Ferrari got their own back on McLaren Mercedes yesterday as Kimi Raikkonen, the world champion, claimed an emphatic victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix, helping to banish memories of the Scuderia’s fruitless efforts in Australia a week earlier. While Raikkonen drove imperiously in the oppressive heat and humidity at the Sepang circuit outside Kuala Lumpur, Lewis Hamilton could manage only fifth place.

The British driver, victorious in Melbourne, started from ninth on the grid after a five-place penalty for an incident in qualifying on Saturday. After a fighting start which enabled him to rise to fifth, he was held up by a delay in changing his tyres at his first pitstop, which almost certainly cost him a podium finish.

As if that was not enough, it emerged after the race that Hamilton’s water bottle stopped working early in the race, turning an already gruelling experience into a real test of both his stamina and fitness. All in all it was a difficult weekend for Hamilton as he and

Heikki Kovalainen, who finished third and outqualified his British team-mate at McLaren for the first time, struggled from Saturday morning to match the superior pace of the Ferraris.

However, Hamilton still heads to the third race of the season in Bahrain in a fortnight’s time leading the drivers’ championship by three points from Raikkonen who is tied with Nick Heidfeld, of BMW Sauber, in second place.

The performance of the red cars from Maranello could have been even more impressive had Felipe Massa, Raikkonen’s Brazilian team-mate, not spun his F2008 after clouting a kerb while running in second position midway through the race. Having started from pole at Sepang for the second consecutive year this was agonising for Massa, who was desperate to do well.

The Brazilian’s stock is falling rapidly in the post-traction control era and, hard to believe after only two races, he is already the subject of paddock speculation that he will be replaced at Ferrari at the end of this season. One Italian website summed up his poor start as follows: “Felipe has made a one-two in the first two races; Zero points in both.”

Massa was outdriven by Raikkonen who, starting from second, tracked him early in the race and then flew round the circuit when Massa went into the pits. The Finn was quick enough to grab the lead when he emerged from his own stop and he was never threatened thereafter.

“For sure we had quite a difficult weekend in Australia,” Raikkonen who, like Massa did not finish in

Melbourne as both Ferraris succumbed to identical engine faults, said. “We didn’t expect to have such difficulties and we were not 100 per cent sure things were going to be different here . . . but everything worked perfectly. We were a little bit concerned in the race to make sure nothing went wrong, but it was a perfect job from the team. This is a good start now for the season for us and we are in a good position.”

Behind Raikkonen, Robert Kubica, the BMW Sauber driver, drove a lonely race to take second — his best career finish — after setting off from fourth and jumping Jarno Trulli in the

Toyota at the start. It was an important performance for Kubica, who has battled bad luck and the odd error since finishing on the podium on his debut at Monza in 2006.

Over at McLaren, the die was cast in qualifying when, having been out-paced by the two Ferraris with

Kovalainen third and Hamilton fourth, the pair were then summoned before the stewards for getting in the way of Heidfeld and Fernando

Alonso, of Renault, at the end of the third session. The McLarens were crawling back to the pits to save fuel but were doing so on the racing line as the German and Spanish drivers came flying through.

The subsequent five-place penalty produced a mouthwatering grid with Hamilton lined up with his former team-mate Alonso in front of him and with Jenson Button, his fellow Briton, in the Honda behind him. All that was needed to add spice to a heady concoction was rain, which was forecast but never materialised.

Hamilton drove like the racer he is at the start. In the stampede to the first corner, Alonso took him right to the edge of the track on the left before the McLaren driver dipped inside and got through. He then found himself precariously sandwiched between Trulli and Kovalainen going into the second turn but emerged ahead of both. Things were looking good for Hamilton, but he was unable to capitalise because of a malfunctioning wheelnut locking mechanism on his front-right tyre which resulted in a what would have been an eight-second pitstop lasting nearly 20 seconds.

Result from Sepang

(56 laps): 1, K Raikkonen (Fin, Ferrari) 1hr 31min 18.555sec; 2, R Kubica (Pol, BMW Sauber) at 19.570sec behind; 3, H Kovalainen (Fin, McLaren Mercedes) 38.450; 4, J Trulli (It, Toyota) 45.832; 5, L Hamilton (GB, McLaren Mercedes) 46.548; 6, N Heidfeld (Ger, BMW Sauber) 49.833; 7, M Webber (Aus, Red Bull Renault) 1:08.130; 8, F Alonso (Sp, Renault) 1:10.041; 9, D Coulthard (GB, Red Bull Renault) 1:16.220; 10, J Button (GB, Honda) 1:26.214; 11, N Piquet Jr (Br, Renault) 1:32.202; 12, G Fisichella (IT, Force India Ferrari); 13, R Barrichello (Br, Honda) 1 lap; 14, N Rosberg (Ger, Williams Toyota) 1 lap; 15, A Davidson (GB, Super Aguri Honda) all at 1 lap behind; 16, T Sato (Japan, Super Aguri Honda); 17, K Nakajima (Japan, Williams Toyota) both at 2 laps. Retired: T Glock (Ger, Toyota) on 1st lap, S Bourdais (Fr, Toro Rosso Ferrari) 1st, A Sutil (Ger, Force India Ferrari) 6th, F Massa (Br, Ferrari) 31st, S Vettel (Ger, Toro Rosso Ferrari) 40th lap.

Qualifying positions: 1, Massa 1min 35.748sec; 2, Raikkonen 1:36.230; 3, Trulli 1:36.711; 4, Kubica 1:36.727; 5, Heidfeld 1:36.753; 6, Webber 1:37.009; 7, Alonso 1:38.450; 8, *Kovalainen 1:36.613; 9, *Hamilton 1:36.709; 10, Glock 1:39.656; 11, Button 1:35.208; 12, Coulthard 1:35.408; 13, Piquet 1:35.562; 14, Barrichello 1:35.622; 15, Vettel 1:35.648; 16, Rosberg 1:35.670; 17, Fisichella 1:36.240; 18, Bourdais 1:36.677; 19, Sato 1:37.087; 20, Sutil 1:37.101; 21, Davidson 1:37.481; 22, †* Five place penalty for impeding in qualifying

†Ten place penalty for causing a crash at Australian GP

Championship positions: Drivers: 1, Hamilton 14pts; 2, Raikkonen 11; 3, Heidfeld 11; 4, Kovalainen 10; 5, Kubica 8; 6, Rosberg 6; 7, Alonso 6; 8, Trulli 5; 9, Nakajima 3; 10, Webber 2; 11, Bourdais 2. Constructors: 1, McLaren Mercedes 24; 2, BMW Sauber 19; 3, Ferrari 11; 4, Williams Toyota 9; 5, Renault 6; 6, Toyota 5; 7, Red Bull Renault 2; 8, Toro Rosso Ferrari 2.

Grands Prix to come

April 6: Bahrain GP (Manama)
April 27: Spanish GP (Barcelona)
May 11: Turkish GP (Istanbul)
May 25: Monaco GP (Monte Carlo)
June 8: Canadian GP (Montreal)
June 22: French GP (Magny-Cours)
July 6: British GP (Silverstone)
July 20: German GP (Hockenheim)
August 3: Hungarian GP (Budapest)
August 24: European GP (Valencia).
September 7: Belgian GP (Spa-Francorchamps
September 14: Italian GP (Monza)
September 28: Singapore GP (Singapore).
October 12: Japanese GP (Fuji)
October 19: Chinese GP (Shanghai)
November 2: Brazilian GP (Interlagos)

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