Kimi Räikkönen won the second race of the 2008 F1 season at Sepang, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton finishing only fifth.
Key Facts
- Race winner
- Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari)
- Laps
- 56
- Pole position
- Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
- Winning margin
- Nearly 20 seconds
- Season round
- 2nd race of 2008 F1 World Championship
- Grid penalties
- Kovalainen and Hamilton both penalised 5 places
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Ferrari locked out the front row, with pole-sitter Felipe Massa and Räikkönen starting first and second. McLaren's Kovalainen and Hamilton received five-place grid penalties post-qualifying for impeding rivals, dropping them to eighth and ninth. Massa blocked Räikkönen at the start to prevent him overtaking on the run to turn one.
The 56-lap Malaysian Grand Prix was held on 23 March 2008 at Sepang International Circuit. After the first round of pit stops, Räikkönen took the lead; Massa subsequently retired after spinning into the gravel, allowing his teammate to cruise to victory. Kubica finished second for BMW Sauber, with Kovalainen third for McLaren.
Räikkönen's dominant win cut into championship leader Hamilton's points advantage, as Hamilton could only manage fifth following a slow pit stop and a front-right tyre problem. The result underlined Ferrari's early-season pace and kept the constructors' battle tightly contested heading into subsequent rounds.