LAST RACE - 11th May

Raikkonen revels in 'perfect' performance

Sunday 23rd March 2008

The normally stoic Kimi Raikkonen managed to show a smile after leading a rejuvanated Ferrari to victory in the blazing heat of Sepang.

The World Champion responded to a disastrous Australian Grand Prix with an imperious performance to cut Lewis Hamilton's lead in the Drivers' standings to just three points.

Raikkonen notched up his maiden victory in Malaysia in 2003 and celebrated this anniversary with a fine win.

The Finnish ace imtimated at concerns over Ferrari's reliability as he explained that the F2008 has more than enough pace.

"For sure we had quite a difficult weekend in Australia but I didn't really expect to have such difficulties," he said.

"We were not 100 percent sure things would be different here. We knew speed wise we would be fine, even in Australia the speed should have been fine."

The 28-year-old said he enjoyed a perfect afternoon, but was disappointed that team-mate Felipe Massa failed to finish the grand prix.

"Everything worked perfectly here and we took it easy to make sure nothing went wrong. We saved the engine. It was a perfect job by the team to come back.

"I would have been happier with Felipe in second but things go wrong."

However, Raikkonen was quick to point out that the Maranello-based outfit have to improve in qualifying.

"I think we still have some difficulties to get the qualifying right," he said. "It was good in Q2 but in the last session we found no grip on the tyres.

"We knew we were running one lap longer so we were not panicking and knew as long as we kept close I knew a good chance to pass him.

"The car was good all weekend, but sometimes it was difficult to get the best out the tyres."

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