Raikkonen racks one up

Defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen finally kicked off the defence of his crown.

Raikonen won the Malaysian Grand Prix as Australia's Mark Webber picked up his first points of the season.

Ferrari's Raikkonen returned to form a week after a dreadful opening day at Melbourne but the Italian team's hopes of a dream one-two finish were wrecked by Brazilian Felipe Massa spinning off while running second.

The Latin American's error gave Pole Robert Kubica in his BMW a perfect opportunity to grab his career-best finish in second and he did so with a calm and solid performance to come ahead of steadily-improving Finn Heikki Kovalainen for McLaren Mercedes-Benz.

Kovalainen's McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton, who won in Australia, battled through a topsy-turvy race and various problems with pit-stops and tactics to finish fifth behind Italian Jarno Trulli in a Toyota.

German Nick Heidfeld was sixth while Webber made up for his bad luck in his home race last Sunday by finishing seventh ahead of double champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso in eighth.

Webber picked up two competition points for the result while Hamilton's efforts kept him on top of the drivers' championship after two rounds.

Raikkonen's win was the 16th of his career and proved he is carrying no "negative baggage" after his dismal outing at Albert Park where he spun twice, but still managed to collect a point for being classified eighth.

It was also Raikkonen's seventh win for Ferrari and his second win in Malaysia.

"That was good, it was what we wanted," the Finn said.

"I got a good start and I stayed behind Felipe until the pit stops hoping I could pass him there and that is how it worked out.

"The conditions were not too bad. It was hotter in Australia, but here it is more humid. For me, though it was OK. It is always nice to be at the front - everything seems easier when you are there."

His win increased his total of points for the season to 11 after two races, to put him equal with Heidfeld and three points behind Hamilton.

The race had a clean start through the first corner, where Trulli and Heidfeld - who started third and fifth respectively - tangled, costing them both several spots.

Williams' Nico Rosberg collided with Toyota's Timo Glock, eliminating Glock from the race while Rosberg was forced to pit for a new front wing.

Hamilton started brightly and was up to fifth by the end of the first lap, settling behind Webber.

However, Hamilton's first pit stop lasted 20 seconds as mechanics struggled to remove the right front wheel with large amounts of brake dust being released, demonstrating how hard the Briton had pushed in the early laps.

Raikkonen passed Massa via quicker pit stops, and the Ferrari pair settled ahead of Kubica and Kovalainen.

After the first set of pit stops, those four led from Trulli in fifth, Webber in sixth, Hamilton was seventh and Heidfeld eighth.

Massa spun off with 25 laps to go, appearing to throttle out of a corner too early and spinning into a gravel trap.

The loss of Massa, and the demotion of Webber as a result of exiting the pits into traffic, were the only changes among the leaders from then on.

Hamilton admitted after the race being stuck behind Webber for most of the race may have prevented him from a higher finish.

"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," Hamilton said.