Raikkonen had moved ahead of pole-sitting team mate Felipe Massa after the first set of pitstops at Sepang and cruised to victory, 20 seconds ahead of BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica, with McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen a further 19 seconds back in third. Massa spun off on the 31st lap under no pressure while running in second place.

The McLaren pair of Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton started from eighth and ninth place after receiving five grid place penalties for causing interference in qualifying, and were never a threat to the Ferraris. “I was able to go much quicker in my in-lap and pass him (Massa),” Raikkonen said. “It was a pretty easy race after the first pitstop.

“We didn’t want to risk (a collision) with team mates, so I decided to wait for the first pitstop, and it worked out perfectly.”

After starting ninth, Hamilton was further compromised by a poor first pitstop. He spent much of the race stuck behind the slower Red Bull of Mark Webber, and finished fifth, closing hard behind Toyota’s Jarno Trulli but unable to pass the fourth-placed Italian.

BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld was sixth and set the fastest lap.

The win lifted Raikkonen to 11 championship points, just three behind Hamilton. It also helped Ferrari recover from the disappointment of the Australian GP where the team gained just one point and both cars failed to finish.

Heidfeld was also on 11 championship points, one ahead of Kovalainen.