Malaysian GP – Kimi revival

Ferrari: Raikkonen 1, Massa DNF

Kimi started from second and got off the line better than Massa, but did not manage to get the inside line in turn 1 and remained behind his team-mate. He stayed on the track one lap more than Massa at the first pit stop, jumping ahead of him following a fast lap and a faster pit. The Ferraris dissappeared in the shade, leaving the BMW of Kubica 20 seconds adrift. Massa made an error and spun at the exit of turn 8 on lap 30, that left his stuck in the gravel trap. Kimi crossed the line in solitary, closing in on Hamilton with 11 points compared to the Brit’s 14. Mark the first win in the Domenicali era.

BMW: Kubica 2, Heidfeld 6.

Starting from 4th and 5th, they had a great chance to put in a strong performance. Kubica passed Trulli and sticked to third until Massa went out, being promoted to second. He maintained a large gap in front of the Mclaren pair (first Lewis, than Heikki). Heidfeld dropped to tenth following a poor start, made a wonderful move by passing both Coulthard and Alonso at the same time. At the last pit stop he passed Webber, benefiting from the Massa incident to inherit 6th. He posted the fastest lap, 1′35″366 on the penultimate lap.

Mclaren: Kovalainen 3, Hamilton 5

A great start by Lewis got him up to fifth, but behind Webber. For the next 16 laps, he was stuck behind the Red Bull. After a 20 sec stop he found himself again behind Webber for another 20 laps. He closed in on Trulli but did not manage to pass him. Kovalainen drove an incident-free race, from 7th at the end of the first lap, passing Trulli, Webber and Hamilton at the first round of pit stops and grabbing third after the lap 30 incident.

Toyota: Trulli 4, Glock DNF

The only thing that could have gone better was the start, when he got stuck in the middle of the fight and dropped to sixth. he defended his position brilliantly and finishing ahead of championship leader Hamilton by 0.7sec. Glock was hit in the rear by Rosberg on lap 1 and his race ended prematurely.

Red Bull: Webber 7, Coulthard 9

A double finish following the Melbourne debacle and the Friday problems and controls. Webber had no hesitation in fending off Hamilton’s challenges for 36 laps, proving a mature way of thinking by asking pit informations about Alonso, knewing he could not resist ahead of Lewis and Heidfeld. He previewed the final duel with Alonso, when he was a superbe defender once again. Coulthard hoped for one more DNF ahead of him, but he had to settle with 9th.

Renault: Alonso 8, Piquet 11

Alonso made the most of his slow car, except the start when he made no miracle to mess up the order. In the end, he could not achieve two points getting stuck behind the barrier Webber. Piquet was only 22 sec behind his team-mate, making no errors. The australian nightmare seems a faraway memory.

Honda: Button 10, Barrichello 13

A double finish and nothing more. Barrichello was handled a drive through for speeding in the pitlane. Without that penalty, he would have been before Fisichella.

Force India: Fisichella 12, Sutil DNF

Fisichella drove calmly to 12th, benefiting in the final part of the race of Rubens’s penalty and the engine failure of Vettel. Sutil’s race ended prematurely on lap 5 with a technical issue.

Williams: Rosberg 14, Nakajima 17

They started from 16th and 22nd. Rosberg collided with Glock on lap one and had to come in and change his nose cone, being already one lap adrift on lap 15. Nakajima fought bravely with Piquet but a technical problem made him drop places in the end. A race to forget for the British team.

Super Aguri: Davidson 15, Sato 16

No reliability problems this time around. Aguri Suzuki should be content.

Toro Rosso: double DNF

Bourdais spun off on lap one, while Vettel kept his 12th place until the Ferrari plant gave up on lap 40.