Felipe Massa escaped the wrath of the stewards to claim a deserved European Grand Prix victory just three weeks after suffering heartbreak.
Ten points were ripped from Massa's grasp in cruel fashion when the engine in his Ferrari blew three laps from the finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest where he was on course for an easy win.
Showing strength of character, Massa put the disappointment behind him to take the chequered flag in Valencia where he had started on pole, adding the fastest lap to his weekend achievements.
The result was temporarily put in doubt when the stewards announced an investigation into an 'unsafe release' at the end of his second pit stop that saw him run wheel to wheel with Force India's Adrian Sutil.
The end result was that 'no sporting advantage was obtained,' with Massa fined 10,000 euros (Ј8000) and reprimanded.
It failed to detract from his triumph as he said: "It's amazing.
"After such a disaster in Hungary, we've come here to a great track and done a fantastic job, although not 100% because of what happened with Kimi.
"But to take pole, win the race and get fastest lap, you can't ask for any more. I'm so glad and happy. It was perfect."
But Massa conceded the last 11 laps were "very difficult" in the wake of Raikkonen's engine blowout that brought his race to an abrupt halt on lap 46.
"I was thinking about it, lap by lap, but there was nothing I could do other than just drive and keep the pace," reflected Massa, who is six points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
"We now need to work very hard ahead of the next race to fix our reliability if we are to fight for the championship.
"We have to make sure everybody is concentrated to resolve every single problem we have."
Despite his slap on the wrist from the stewards, Massa felt it was Sutil who was in the wrong, adding: "It looked bad from his side.
"It was a shame to fight with him in the pit lane, and with the wall looming, I had to back off and not take any risks.
"But I was the lead car, he was the lapped car, so I expected him to back off. He didn't and it was quite an error."
As for reigning world champion Raikkonen, he fears there will be no repeat of last season's title triumph unless Ferrari crack their latest reliability issues.
"It wasn't the best weekend," added Raikkonen, who is 13 points adrift of Hamilton after an eight-race winless run.
"I am not worried about not winning the race, but losing the points we could have got is not very good.
"Hopefully we will get things as we want and we can still fight for the championship.
"There are still many races to go and it can change so quickly, but there is no doubt it won't be easy.
"We need to see what we can do in the next race, but we need to start winning again - otherwise there is no chance."
To add to Raikkonen's woes, he ran over a pit crew member as he began to pull away from his second stop, albeit with the fuel hose still attached to the car.
The mechanic is currently undergoing tests in a local hospital for a foot injury and back pains.
Holding his hands up, Raikkonen added: "It was my fault. I left the pits a bit too early and ran over the guy who was re-fuelling.
"We need to look and see what really happened."
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