Delighted Raikkonen Savours First F1 Win

Iceman Kimi Raikkonen showed some rare emotion after winning his maiden Grand Prix win in Malaysia and admitted it was easy to keep his cool in the blistering heat at Sepang.

Raikkonen started from seventh on the grid and pushed hard in the early stages but was free to cruise to the finish to become the fourth youngest winner in the history of Formula One.

"It is difficult to say how I feel," he said with a smile. "Tomorrow morning I will really realise I won my first race. The team did a really good job, they put in so much effort over the winter and it is paying off now."

The 23-year-old Raikkonen, who made his Formula One debut for Sauber two years ago and joined McLaren-Mercedes last season, has missed out on his chance of victory twice but it was third time lucky in Malaysia.

In last year's French Grand Prix when he slid on oil and let Michael Schumacher through to win and in the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago a problem with his pitlane speed limiter cost him the victory.

But not even the hot and humid weather could stop the Finn this time and, after a hard first stint behind the Renault of Fernando Alonso he was able to back off to ease his car to the finish.

"At the start I just pushed as hard as I could and we ran much longer in the first stint," Raikkonen added. "It was quite hot but I didn't have to push that hard at the end, I just drove around. It was a good race for us."