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Congratulations to Raikkonen for winning the race.
Good race from Kubica as well.
Kovalainen finished 3rd but the performance of the McLaren was amongst the others.
Trulli finishing 4th is surprising and it was on merit
Hamilton was unlucky with his stop, he recovered to make 5th
Heidfeld setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 55 and his pass of Alonso and Coulthard was spectacular
Webber was the lightest fueled on the grid but not by much. He managed to finish ahead of the works Renault
Alonso made 8th and didn't really capitalise on his heavier fuel load after losing a number of places at the start.

Pity that Massa has spun again. It looked like another driver error and that won't bode well with his Championship chances!

Your thoughts and the driver of the day ?

Your thoughts

Well done Kimi, really puts the pressure on Felipe but was that a mechanical failure? It was a very unusual kind of off . . .

Congrats to Robert, that was a strong drive.
Congrats to Heikki, a sound damage limitation operation.

Lewis was mighty on the first lap, ultimately a wheel nut robbed him of a podium.

Jenson set a remarkably quick lap for a Honda on the last lap a 1:35.715 which was only 4 tenths slower than the fastest lap of the race, not bad for a crock of s**t!

I still don't know who gets my driver of the day . . . but since the camera spent 95% of the race focused on Lewis I can't really choose anyone else can I?


I just looked out my window and it's snowing!

Team by team summary following the race (GMM)

FERRARI

Dominant winner Kimi Raikkonen followed Felipe Massa until the first pit stop, when a couple of masterful laps gave him the jump on his Brazilian teammate, who then threw his car into the gravel after clipping a kerb.


BMW-SAUBER

Robert Kubica finished a lonely, distant and competitive second, but he looked second-hand on the podium after preferring not to sip from his boiling hot drinks bottle. "I didn't feel very well all weekend so the last ten laps were pretty tough," he admitted. Nick Heidfeld lost places at the start, but his sixth place was complemented by the late-race feat of setting the fastest lap.


MCLAREN-MERCEDES

Another difficult day for McLaren; not only outpaced by Kubica's BMW, but fumbling a pit stop that saw Lewis Hamilton shuffled out of contention for a podium, unable to either find a way past Mark Webber for many laps, or take in any water from his broken drinks bottle. Heikki Kovalainen finished third.


TOYOTA

Jarno Trulli completed a solid weekend with an excellent fourth place, even fending off Hamilton's late-race advances. Timo Glock was the early victim of an optimistic lunge by Nico Rosberg, retiring with broken rear suspension.


RED BULL-RENAULT

Mark Webber had a notable race, running fourth in the early stages, fending off Hamilton for many laps, and ultimately only missing sixth place because Takuma Sato held him up at a crucial point of the race. David Coulthard finished ninth after missing the drivers' parade, as he woke up feeling unwell.


RENAULT

Fernando Alonso scored the final point on offer, just behind Webber, and admitted that his R28 is simply not fast enough at this early stage of the season. Twenty two seconds later, Nelson Piquet finished. "There is a big gap to the front," engineering boss Pat Symonds rued frankly.


HONDA

Tenth place for Jenson Button is an accurate reflection of Honda's current performance, while Rubens Barrichello struggled to keep up and worryingly finished behind a Force India, but only after a drive-through penalty for pit lane speeding.


FORCE INDIA-FERRARI

Giancarlo Fisichella slotted into twelfth place following Barrichello's drive-through, and Adrian Sutil pulled off just a few laps into the race with failed hydraulics. "We showed that we are no longer the team bringing up the rear of the field," said owner Vijay Mallya.


WILLIAMS-TOYOTA

Following the Melbourne podium, Williams' Malaysian nightmare got even worse on Sunday, as Rosberg crashed into Glock at the start and needed a new nose, while Kazuki Nakajima started from the back, picked up a puncture, and lost even more time when he ran off the track and was classified dead-last. "This was a race weekend to move on from," said technical director Sam Michael.


SUPER AGURI-HONDA

It is a mark of the struggling Japanese team's current situation that they were pleased simply to get both cars to the chequered flag at the back of the field in Malaysia.


TORO ROSSO-FERRARI

If Super Aguri were simply pleased to finish, the same cannot even be said for Toro Rosso, as Sebastian Vettel's failing car caught fire when he pulled over to retire, and Sebastien Bourdais spun into retirement on lap one.

The driver of the day vote for me is difficult in this race. I usually go for the winner of the race as winning races is what formula 1 is about but this time I'm going for Trulli for getting fourth in a Toyota. It's will be interesting to find out how many people picked that in 8'n'pole.

Good to see Kubica get second.

Massa is a worry with what seems an inability to cope driving without driver aids. It seems that his concentration skills are lacking.

Well done Kimi for finishing first.

Another interesting race but not as interesting as the one in Melbourne.

Kimi Raikkonen destroyed Massa, to jump him like that must be demoralising for him, after that he started to drop back and I suppose when they told him to push he spun out. A terrible start for Massa's season, maybe this will be his final year at Ferrari!

Well done to Kubica, he is a potential star.

Wasn't too impressed by Kovalainen but Trulli really impressed me and I voted him the driver of the day. I just hope he doesn't go back to sleep.

Hamilton had a really good start but then couldn't do much about those ahead. He was unlucky in the pit stop yes but it good to see him unlucky for once!!

Heidfeld had a great pass on Coulthard and Alonso, I like that.

Webber was nearly my driver of the day for staying in front of Hamilton then Alonso

Alonso had an ok race but I was hoping for more. I was hoping he would jump Webber and Heidfeld. I wonder why his second stint was too short!

Ferrari are clearly the fastest but are they consistent ?

And what about these Ferrari engine failures!!!

Who said that Ten would cover the races live this year ? Watching the race with a 5 hour delay is just ridiculous
At least it is a day off today

i picked Kimi as driver of the day an amazing race all in all.

well done to Kubica the BMW's are looking strong this season

Kovalienen drove well and out paced Hamilton so he did a good job

Truill was just outstanding in that race 4th in a toyota

Massa stuffed up and spun on to the gravel not a great start to the season for him

A bit of a yawn after the fun in the park in Melbourne. Massa needs to pull his finger out or he will be the no2 driver for the rest of 08 and he may have a contract but no car next year. Good drive from Kimi and Kubica. I thought Truli did well. The Mclarens were not very impressive particuarly Hamilton. Webber drove well to hold Hamilton off in a faster car for so many laps, he was unlucky to have to pit early and have to carry extra fuel and also get stuck behind Sato other wise would have also been in front of Nick in the other BMW. Alonso was disappointing when he caught up to Webber, did he throw the towel in?? What happened to Rosberg?

JayVee wrote:Wasn't too impressed by Kovalainen but Trulli really impressed me and I voted him the driver of the day. I just hope he doesn't go back to sleep.

Trulli did really well, but why do you diss Heikki? From all accounts he did very well in this race. And I have him as my 2008 champion , so don't speak bad of him

he is fast and he does have a fast car but seriously i don't think he is going to win this year as hamiltion (even though he didn't have a very good race(not saying that i like cause i don't))and kimi look very strong kimi truly dominating last race hekki has a chance if he can settle in to the car for the next race and win

It would be surprising if Heikki does win the championship. But if Ferrari keeps getting hit by mechanical failures and internal rivalry, all he has to do is beat Lewis

Easier said than done!

I wouldn't be surprised if Heikki wins the next race. He is steadily going about his business and consistantly outperformed Hamilton in this round.

jido wrote:

JayVee wrote:Wasn't too impressed by Kovalainen but Trulli really impressed me and I voted him the driver of the day. I just hope he doesn't go back to sleep.

Trulli did really well, but why do you diss Heikki? From all accounts he did very well in this race. And I have him as my 2008 champion , so don't speak bad of him

I actually like Heikki but I felt in this race he didn't impress. Yes he did outqualify Lewis (and Lewis again had the lesser fuel!!!!!) and finished ahead of him but I didn't feel that he was making the most out of that McLaren and didn't push to catch Kubica for instance while Trulli at one stage was catching him.

But of course I am more than happy to see Hamilton beaten, for Hamilton, for McLaren and for the British media

booklover wrote:he is fast and he does have a fast car but seriously i don't think he is going to win this year as hamiltion (even though he didn't have a very good race(not saying that i like cause i don't))and kimi look very strong kimi truly dominating last race hekki has a chance if he can settle in to the car for the next race and win

Hello booklover and

I think (and hope) Kovailanen wins a few races this year. If only for Hamilton's sake

Yes Kimi was dominating in Malaysia and put Massa under pressure but don't forget that only a week earlier he had a pretty poor race.

yes he had a bad australia but the car was poor and the engine failed twice and for hekkis sake so do i but most of all i hope that hamillton does not win the season the commentry is bias towords him and i hate it

booklover wrote:yes he had a bad australia but the car was poor and the engine failed twice and for hekkis sake so do i but most of all i hope that hamillton does not win the season the commentry is bias towords him and i hate it

Sure the car failed but he was sloppy. Now Massa is getting so much critisism for spinning out in Malaysia and there are even calls to replace him, now he only did 1 mistake more than Raikkonen