SEPANG (Malaysia), March 23: 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.

The Finn 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.

Nick Heidfeld (BMW), Mark Webber (Red Bull) and Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso (Renault) collected the rest of the points.

Hamilton, who won in Melbourne, was fifth at the end of the first lap but could not find a way past Australian Webber.

Problems in removing the McLaren’s right front wheel at the first pitstop cost Hamilton 20 seconds and ultimately wrecked his chances of catching the leaders.

Hamilton leads the championship with 14 points after two races, ahead of Raikkonen and Heidfeld with 11. Massa has yet to score a point.

The next race is in Bahrain on April 6.

Results:

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:31:18.555; 2. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber +00:19.570; 3. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 00:38.450; 4. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 00:45.832; 5. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 00:46.548; 6. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 00:49.833; 7. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 01:08.130; 8. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 01:10.041; 9. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 01:16.220; 10. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 01:26.214; 11. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 01:32.202; 12. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India 1 lap; 13. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1 lap; 14. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams 1 lap; 15. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri 1 lap; 16. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri 2 laps; 17. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams 2 laps. Retired: Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso 17 laps; Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 26 laps; Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 51 laps; Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 55 laps; Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso 55 laps.

Fastest lap: Nick Heidfeld, 1:35.366, lap 55.—Reuters