If Australia was a nightmare for Ferrari, Malaysia was a dream. Kimi Raikkonen toyed initially with polesitting team mate Felipe Massa, took the lead after their first pit stops, and sauntered into the distance to a victory that puts him back into contention for a second world title.

Massa blotted his copybook by spinning out of an easy second place on the 31st lap, leaving Robert Kubica to take an excellent runner-up result for BMW Sauber. In the closing laps, though 22 seconds adrift, the Pole set a similar pace to Raikkonen.

Heikki Kovalainen was McLaren’s leading runner in a distant third place, a similar distance in arrears.

For Lewis Hamilton, it was a race spent playing catch-up. He made a great start to jump from ninth up to fifth place behind the Ferraris, Kubica and similarly fast-starting Mark Webber in the Red Bull. But then a problem with the right-front wheel during his first pit stop dropped him down to 11th place, and he lost time hand over fist in the traffic.

That enabled Jarno Trulli to come through to a good fourth place for Toyota, with Hamilton dogging his wheel tracks after a great recovery drive. The truth, however, was that this time out Ferrari were stronger, and the pace of BMW Sauber will have both top teams keeping a close eye on the white and blue cars.

Nick Heidfeld set fastest lap in the closing stages as he thirsted after Hamilton, while Webber was able to hold off a challenging Fernando Alonso in the Renault as they wrapped up the final points.

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Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 56 1:31:18.555 2 10
2 4 Robert Kubica BMW 56 +19.5 secs 4 8
3 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 56 +38.4 secs 8 6
4 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 56 +45.8 secs 3 5
5 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 56 +46.5 secs 9 4
6 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW 56 +49.8 secs 5 3
7 10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 56 +68.1 secs 6 2
8 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 56 +70.0 secs 7 1
9 9 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 56 +76.2 secs 12
10 16 Jenson Button Honda 56 +86.2 secs 11
11 6 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 56 +92.2 secs 13
12 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 55 +1 Lap 17
13 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda 55 +1 Lap 14
14 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 55 +1 Lap 16
15 19 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 55 +1 Lap 21
16 18 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 54 +2 Laps 19
17 8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 54 +2 Laps 22
Ret 15 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 39 Hydraulics 15
Ret 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 30 Spin 1
Ret 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 5 Hydraulics 20
Ret 12 Timo Glock Toyota 1 Accident 10
Ret 14 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 0 Spin 18