Raikkonen Takes First Grand Prix in Malaysia

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen cruised to the first win of his formula one career in Malaysia on Sunday as Ferrari's world champion Michael Schumacher joined the also-rans.

The Finn, living up to his 'Iceman' nickname, kept his cool in the sticky heat to beat Ferrari's Brazilian Rubens Barrichello by a massive 39 seconds.

"It was not too bad actually, I was expecting it to be more difficult," he said of the conditions, with the excitement of winning yet to sink in. "I didn't need to push so hard for the last 20 laps, I was just driving around and it was just like any other race."

With new rules mixing up the grid, but none of the unpredictable weather of the enthralling Australian opener, the 2003 season continued to provide thrills and spills in abundance.

In a race turned topsy-turvy by Schumacher colliding with Italian Jarno Trulli on the second corner, Renault's promising young Spaniard Fernando Alonso claimed his first podium with third place. Already the youngest ever pole starter, the 21-year-old became the first Spaniard on the podium since Alfonso de Portago was second at Silverstone in 1956 for Ferrari.

"It is the best weekend of my life probably," said the Spaniard, who had been fighting a fever since Saturday and was also slowed by a faulty gearbox. "I had my fingers crossed for the last 10 laps. The last 20 or 25 laps I felt quite bad and quite sick but you keep concentrating and push like crazy."

Raikkonen's win has been coming for some time and is a deserved reward for the disappointment of missing out on a season-opening win in Australia two weeks ago. "It will be a lot easier now as people will not be asking me all the time when am I going to win my first race," he said.

The win lifted the 23-year-old to the top of the championship after two races with 16 points, ahead of team-mate David Coulthard on 10.

Five-times world champion Schumacher, now sixth overall, nudged the rear of Trulli's Renault in an incident that triggered a chain reaction behind him and produced a drive-through penalty. The German, whose fourth place in Australia two weeks ago was the first time he had finished off the podium since Monza in September 2001, carved his way back through the field but was a lap down on Raikkonen before the halfway mark. He finished sixth after four visits to the pits, one for the penalty and another to replace his front wing.

"It was a tough race with an unfortunate start," said the German, who had never before finished off the podium in Malaysia. "I made a mistake and hit Jarno and I have apologised to him. That was the decisive moment of my race. It came as a big surprise that I was still able to fight for points after I pitted for the drive-through penalty, so I am happy enough in the circumstances."

With some familiar frontrunners out of the running, the second race of the season was blown wide open, with some immediate surprises. Germany's Ralf Schumacher, winner in Malaysia for Williams last year but apparently out of the running after qualifying 17th, revived to claim fourth place ahead of Trulli.

"This race was as demanding as 56 laps of qualifying," he commented. "Driving at the front as I did last year was obviously much easier... the new rules are proving positive - they mix up the field so much that a lot goes on in the race."

Briton Jenson Button was seventh for BAR and Germany's Nick Heidfeld eighth for Sauber. Button's Canadian team mate and feuding foe Jacques Villeneuve failed to start due to a damaged gearbox, a situation that undermined his much-publicised opinion before the race that Button was a weak team mate.

His absence also wrong-footed Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, whose Jordan should have been behind him on the grid and was flummoxed when the BAR went into the pits. He made a mistake in lining up on the grid and the subsequent gear changes and reversals wrecked the launch control system meaning he also failed to start.

Coulthard, winner in Australia, fell by the wayside on lap three with an electronics problem. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, second last year, found himself running around at the rear after his Williams was hit by Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia's Jaguar and lost its rear wing in the first lap mayhem.

British formula one rookie Justin Wilson was taken to hospital after being injured by his HANS safety device in Sunday's Grand Prix. Minardi boss Paul Stoddart said that Wilson, 24, was suffering a paralysed arm due to a suspected pinched nerve caused by a collar system designed to protect drivers on the racetrack. Wilson was first taken to the circuit medical centre and then to hospital.

"He's got a completely paralysed left arm and shoulder, no feeling in the entire arm at all," he said. "The initial medical report is that it's a pinched nerve where the HANS has been sitting on it."

"It transpires from what little we know that the HANS had slipped in the first 10 laps and of course that then allowed him to move around far too much in the cockpit which has added to the pressure," Stoddart added.

The HANS head and neck safety device has been made mandatory in formula one this season for the first time and several drivers have struggled with it. Ferrari's Brazilian Rubens Barrichello blamed it for his crash in Australia two weeks ago and was allowed to race without it in Malaysia following a special dispensation, on medical advice after a meeting with race stewards.

The decision angered Stoddart, who only discovered that Barrichello had been exempted after the race and felt that Wilson's best efforts had been wrecked by the device.

"It was a gladiator effort, he shouldn't have kept going. We as a team did not know about it until he came on the radio two laps before he came in," he said.

Stoddart said he expected the driver to be released later today and be passed fit to race in Brazil in two weeks' time.

"But we have to look at what caused it because it could have been a lot worse," he said. "The state he was in, I would have feared something a lot worse if he had stopped on the track and it had taken them a while to get to him."

Result of Sunday's Malaysian formula one Grand Prix:

Race distance: 56 laps, 310.408 kms 1. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren One hour 32 minutes 22.195 seconds (average speed 201.629 kmh) 2. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari 39.286 seconds behind 3. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:04.007 4. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Williams 1:28.026 5. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Renault one lap 6. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari one lap 7. Jenson Button (Britain) BAR one lap 8. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Sauber one lap 9. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany) Sauber one lap 10. Ralph Firman (Britain) Jordan one lap 11. Cristiano da Matta (Brazil) Toyota one lap 12. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Williams 3 laps 13. Jos Verstappen (Netherlands) Minardi 4 laps

Not classified (did not finish): Antonio Pizzonia (Brazil) Jaguar 42 laps completed Justin Wilson (Britain) Minardi 41 Mark Webber (Australia) Jaguar 35 Olivier Panis (France) Toyota 12 David Coulthard (Britain) McLaren 2 Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Jordan 0 Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BAR 0 Fastest lap: Michael Schumacher 1:36.412 (lap 45).