Kimi Raikkonen banished the memory of last Sunday's disastrous start to the season by claiming a comfortable victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver cruised home 19.5 seconds ahead of Robert Kubica's BMW Sauber with Heikki Kovalainen finishing third for McLaren. Lewis Hamilton finished fifth behind Jarno Trulli's Toyota after a bungled pit stop cost him a chance of a place on the podium, while Felipe Massa, who began in pole position and led for the first 17 laps, saw his race come to an end after 30 laps when he beached his Ferrari in the gravel. The win helped Raikkonen slash Hamilton's lead to three points. The Finn sealed his 16th Grand Prix victory when he took the lead from teammate Massa at the first set of pitstops. “It was a pretty easy race from that first pit stop really,” said Raikkonen. “We had quite a difficult weekend in Australia and we were not 100 percent sure it was going to be any different here. “But everything worked perfectly. This is a good start to the season for us and we're in a pretty good position,” added the Finn, who scored a point in Australia after only seven cars were left running at the finish and one of those was disqualified. Nick Heidfeld (BMW), Mark Webber (Red Bull) and Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso (Renault) collected the rest of the points. Hamilton, who won in Melbourne, was fifth at the end of the first lap but could not find a way past Australian Webber. Problems in removing the McLaren's right front wheel at the first pit stop cost Hamilton 20 seconds and ultimately wrecked his chances of catching the leaders. “I was pushing Mark for a long, long time but being behind someone is extremely difficult so it doesn't matter how much quicker you are, it makes it extremely difficult to get past,” said the 23-year-old. “And then we were in with a good shot for third place and then we had the wheel gun at the pitstop.” Kubica savored BMW's second runner-up spot in a row following Heidfeld's superb finish at Albert Park last week, but said his team had to rein-in their expectations. “It was a fantastic result for the team,” said the Pole. “I think we have to be happy with our place now, because at the start of the season it didn't look so good,” he added. The 23-year-old conceded BMW was still trailing Ferrari in terms of performance but was surprised McLaren, which dominated last year's race in Malaysia with a one-two finish, had not posed more of a challenge. Kovalainen, on the podium for only the second time in a career spanning just 19 Grands Prix, said McLaren had a lot to be proud of after being hit by the penalties on Saturday. The Finn qualified third fastest but started from eighth because of the five-place drop. Hamilton leads the championship with 14 points after two races, ahead of Raikkonen and Heidfeld with 11. Massa has yet to score a point. __
