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First success of the season for Ferrari at Sepang, but the party is ruined by the Brazilian who spins out and costs the team a one-two finish. Kubica finishes in second place and Kovalainen in third. Hamilton fifth after problems in the pits. Excellent fourth place for Trulli
 SEPANG (Malaysia), March 23 2008 – Ferrari tasted their first success of the season in Malaysia during the second race of the 2008 grand prix calendar. Kimi Raikkonen won finishing ahead of Robert Kubica and Heikki Kovalainen, with Trulli an excellent fourth. If the GP of Australia was plagued with errors from all but McLaren, in Malaysia it was Ferrari's consistency and reliability that triumphed. But certainly not those of Felipe Massa, who's spin 26 laps before the end of the grand prix - as the driver was in second place - left the team rueing their missed chance for a one-two finish and two zero point finishes in two weeks in the constructors championship. McLaren did not perform any better as an error during the first pit stop put Hamilton, who had started well, out of contention for the victory. Hamilton eventually finished fifth, but it was a bad day at the office for the Woking team.
ENGLISH TYRES – The initial phases of the GP offered the impression that the race was going to be a closely-fought affair. Raikkonen was forced to apply the brakes to let past an aggressive Massa and Hamilton drove well to climb from ninth to fifth place. There were no changes in the lead until the first pit stop, when Ferrari’s Finnish driver overtook Massa. This was also when McLaren experienced their problems. Hamilton, coming in on lap 20 with his front left tyre already completely worn down, was forced to a prolonged pit stop of 19.9 seconds as the mechanics had problems changing the car’s right wheel. The English driver re-emerged down in 13th place with this race already compromised.
BMW AND RENAULT – The McLarens found themselves battling with Red Bull, Renault and Toyota, and Hamilton was held up for several laps behind a slow Webber as Raikkonen extended his lead. Kovalainen and Kubica battled for second place and it was the BMW that eventually came out on top; confirmation of the improvement of a team that have their eye on challenging the established order of Ferrari and McLaren. As for Renault, Alonso was in a different league from team-mate Piquet and was the sole reason why the French team picked up yet another point today. It was also a bad day for Williams as Rosberg was unlucky to be hit by Glock after just a couple of laps.
EXCELLENT TRULLI – On the circuit where Trulli had already took Toyota to the podium, the Italian driver fought from the very beginning to the very end of the race to defend the second row on the grid obtained following McLaren's penalty. Trulli was in great form to force Heidfeld off his racing line just after the start and then take advantage of Massa’s error and Hamilton’s delay. The English driver was only able to cause him problems on the last lap of the race. It was also sweet revenge for Trulli after an exploding battery cost him fifth place in Australia. Fisichella onboard the Force India could also consider himself satisfied with his 12th place finish. Vettel (engine problem), Sutil, Glock (accident) and Bourdais all retired.
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