Stewart Bell reports from Melbourne:

Kimi Raikkonen showed to be in dominant form by easily taking pole position in his resplendent F2007 chassis during the Saturday’s triple-knockout qualifying session for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen thrilled the crowds with an ultimate time in the third knockout session of 1.26.072, over fourth tenths of a second quicker than his front row compatriot Double World Champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso. Having stood in the shadow of the competitiveness of his team-mate all winter and throughout the Australian Grand Prix weekend, Raikkonen finally showed his hand and prepared to put paid to speculation that Massa would have the upper hand in the battle for supremacy. Raikkonen only felt hard done by the lack of opportunity to shade his team-mate, "a great qualifying, but a shame for Felipe who was not able to get the sort of result he should have done. I think our car is more competitive in race trim than over a single lap. Usually here the race can be full of incidents so it's impossible to know what could happen. If all goes the way it should, then we have a good chance, but it will be important to pick up as many points as possible. Am I worried about Felipe's gearbox problem? You can never be a hundred percent sure, but I am certain the team will do everything it can to make sure that I have a car in the best possible shape."

Reigning World Champion Alonso took proud place on the front row of the grid, well-positioned for his first race with the ‘Silver Arrows’ squad, however never looked like challenging the ultimate pace set by Scuderia Ferrari throughout the session and indeed since the first practice session on Friday. With a short run down to the first corner on Sunday, Alonso will be hoping that he can take Raikkonen from the start and manage the gap to make up for the raw speed-differential. Fernando acknowledged the workload to get to the front row, "A great way to start the season for the team and I. We have worked so hard over the winter to get to where we are today and I would like to thank everybody for their efforts. There is still a slight gap to Ferrari but the improvements that have been made since the Bahrain test are fantastic. The car feels good. We made some changes this morning and worked on the set-up to prepare for qualifying and it seems to have worked out well. I'm also pleased that Lewis is right up there with me which put us both in the best position to score points for ourselves and the team. I can't wait for the race."

Formula 1 journeyman and BMW-Sauber-F1 potentiometer Nick Heidfeld further underlined the 2007 season package for the Swiss-German outfit when he closed out the top three during Saturday’s Q3 final qualifying session. Heidfeld has looked on the pace all weekend, keeping his F1.07 in touch with the front-runners in a burst of new-found competitiveness. Heidfeld was buoyant, "It is very clearly a fantastic result for us to be third. I was sure we would make it into the top ten but more P5 or something like that. We had a good winter season, but you never know until you get to the first race. As regards reliability I am happier now after speaking to some people in the team, who explained to me what they had done to make everything work. On top of that we did a race simulation in Bahrain which worked fine. The car was not perfect today. In Q2 I was happy but with some fuel on board it was not that easy. From my view Ferrari is still ahead. We will only see tomorrow in the race how things are really going, however, so far I am really pleased."