Stewart Bell reports from Melbourne:

Kimi Raikkonen cruised to take an historic lights-to-flag first win for Scuderia Ferrari at Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, with second placed Fernando Alonso left trailing more than seven seconds in his wake.

Raikkonen looked absolutely stunning throughout qualifying, and grabbed a great start to lead from a leap-frogging Heidfeld, and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Double World Champion Alonso respectively. Raikkonen maintained the lead throughout the race, recording a fastest lap that was more than a second up on Alonso's best. Raikkonen was rightly jubilant, "A fantastic victory! It is great to be winning again with my new team whom I want to thank for giving me a great car. The race was not as easy as it might have looked from the outside, partly because shortly after the start, the radio failed so it was almost impossible to talk to the pit wall. Fortunately we had prepared well for the race and I know what I had to do, but there were a few difficult moments. I was not flat out all the time, adapting my pace to the way the race was going. It was nice to hear my national anthem again on the podium as it had been a while. I have to say that last year it seemed to be the Italian one I was hearing, usually. This is a great way to start the championship. We know we have a very competitive package but we still have to work to make it even better and above all, reliable."

Alonso was magnanimous in the face of defeat, at the hands of his greatest 2007 championship rival, happy to take second place in a World Championship that rewards consistency. Alonso was passed on the outside of Turn 1 by his team-mate rookie Lewis Hamilton, and spent the first and second stint of his race diminishing the gap. As Hamilton pitted for a second time, Alonso pushed to make up the gap and regained second place with time to spare after his own stop. With Raikkonen and Alonso having utilised the same tyre strategy in the race 'medium-medium-soft', McLaren have some way to develop the package before they are a potent force. "What a great way to start the season and my career as a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver. Of course it's always better to win but Kimi was a little bit quicker than us today, however we scored the maximum points that were possible, and I'm really pleased. My start was a bit strange with both BMWs being very quick off the line, and I was so busy defending my line from Heidfeld on the outside that it was not possible for me to stay ahead of him. I was then behind Lewis for a while and was just focusing on keeping up with him and sometimes dropping back to allow the car to cool down. Originally it was meant to be one lap but because I was behind Lewis I managed to save enough fuel for one more lap. Both of the Bridgestone Potenza tyre options worked well, We will now continue to work hard to give us the best opportunity to beat Ferrari at the Malaysian Grand Prix."