01 Australia - A walk in the park for Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen dominated the Australian Grand Prix to record his first victory with the Ferrari team. Leading away from Pole Position the Finn was never seriously challenged for position and was able to pull out a 15 second advantage in the opening stint, a gap he would then control to the chequered flag.
While Raikkonen stormed to his first victory since Suzuka 2005, McLaren Mercedes had every reason to smile. Starting fourth Lewis Hamilton make a fantastic start and was able to pass team-mate Fernando Alonso around the outside into turn one. Hamilton would later lose position to the double World Champion when he was baulked by Takuma Sato as he made his second pit stop. Given a sniff of the position, Alonso banged in some quick laps and when he exited the pits for the second and final time he had the second position over Hamilton.
Hamilton’s debut with McLaren was however nothing short of stunning and a podium in his very first Grand Prix is some result.
Nick Heidfeld lost out to the fast starting Hamilton on the very first lap and was not able to run at the pace of the leading trio. Running soft Bridgestone Potenza tyres in the first stint in contrast to his rivals, the BMW Sauber driver held on initially but was later passed by team-mate Robert Kubica. Running fourth Kubica was forced to retire with a gearbox failure on the F1.07, handing fourth position back to Heidfeld. It was however an impressive Grand Prix from the BMW squad and heading to Malaysia, they will be a major threat.
Giancarlo Fisichella had a troubled race in the leading Renault. Starting sixth the Italian was unable to make any progress and indeed spent much of the 58-lap Grand Prix losing over a second a lap to the front-runners. Fisichella would hold on to take fifth position having gained the one spot courtesy of Kubica’s retirement.
It was also a troubled race for Heikki Kovalainen who was making his Grand Prix debut with the Renault squad. Starting a disappointing 13th, the Finn would make initial progress but numerous small mistakes in the second half of the race saw him slip back behind rivals Toyota to tenth.
Felipe Massa drove a solid race in the second Ferrari. After a gearbox failure in qualifying yesterday and then an overnight engine change, Massa started at the back of the 22-car field. A one stop strategy saw him chase down Fisichella’s 14 second advantage in a handful of laps after the Italian’s second pit stop, but try as he might, Massa was unable to find a way ahead of his Renault rival.
Nico Rosberg drove a solid race in his Williams Toyota to claim seventh position a lap down on Raikkonen while team-mate Alex Wurz slipped back early on and was later taken out by the over-optimistic David Coulthard. Ralf Schumacher claimed the final point for Toyota with eighth position as he lead home team-mate Jarno Trulli and Kovalainen.
After an awful qualifying session, Rubens Barrichello had a much better race in his Honda. The Brazilian would shadow Trulli and Kovalainen across the line to finish 11th and had he not been so badly held up by team-mate Jenson Button in the first 15 laps of the race, could well have challenged for the final point. For Button, the race was a disaster. After holding up his team-mate, he would get a drive though penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Button finished 15th of the 17 finishers.
Takuma Sato lost out to the recovering Kovalainen and Massa following his impressive tenth position in qualifying yesterday in the leading Super Aguri Honda while Mark Webber’s race slipped away in his Red Bull with some kind of problem in the first pit stop and then a spin on pit lane entry at his second stop. Webber finished 13th ahead of Tonio Liuzzi’s Toro Rosso and Button.
Anthony Davidson’s fourth Grand Prix start promised a great deal after he qualified 11th in the second Super Aguri. A slow start saw him drop down the field and then contact with Adrian Sutil really compromised his day. Davidson would finish 16th ahead of nemesis Sutil in the Spyker Ferrari.
Scott Speed suffered a tyre failure whilst running 19th in his Toro Rosso while Christijan Albers finished his rotten weekend by missing his braking point and nosing his Spyker into the barriers.
The teams pack up and head to Sepang for the Malaysian Grand Prix in three weeks time. The pecking order is now clear with Ferrari out front from McLaren, BMW Sauber and then 2006 Champions Renault.