Raikkonen strolls to Malaysian GP victory

By Peter Rutherford

SEPANG, Malaysia (Reuters) - Kimi Raikkonen cruised to victory in Malaysia on Sunday to put Ferrari back on the winning track and slash Lewis Hamilton's lead to three points.

World champion Raikkonen failed to finish last weekend's season-opener in Australia but the Finn sealed his 16th grand prix victory when he took the lead from team mate Felipe Massa at the first set of pitstops.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica finished second, the best result of the Pole's Formula One career so far. McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was third with British team mate Hamilton having to settle for fifth.

Massa's race came to an end on lap 31 when the Brazilian, who started on pole position with Raikkonen alongside on an all-Ferrari front row, spun out at turn eight and could not escape the gravel trap.

"It was a pretty easy race from that first pitstop really," said Raikkonen.

"We had quite a difficult weekend in Australia and we were not 100 percent sure it was going to be any different here.

"But everything worked perfectly. This is a good start to the season for us and we're in a pretty good position," added the Finn, who scored a point in Australia after only seven cars were left running at the finish and one of those was disqualified.

Hamilton, who started ninth on the grid after he and Kovalainen collected five-place penalties for impeding rivals in qualifying, finished behind Italian Jarno Trulli, who took a fine fourth place for Toyota.