18/03/2007
NEWS STORY
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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."
British rookie Lewis Hamilton completed his first Australian Grand Prix weekend with a fairytale podium, following home his team-mate after being passed in the pits after his second stop. Hamilton's dream result will enter the history books as the greatest debut of a British Driver since Mike Parks in the 1966 French Grand Prix. Having worked for 10 years to attain his place in the pinnacle of International Motor Racing, Hamilton was visibly excited for his placing, "I'm absolutely ecstatic - today's result is more than I ever dreamed of achieving on my Grand Prix debut. A big thank you to the team who have worked so hard during the winter to make sure I was as prepared as I possibly could be. I made a good start but the BMWs were quick off the line and Kubica managed to get past. There was no room on the inside so I got on the left and managed to outbreak both Kubica and Fernando coming into the first corner to take third. The race was intense, and I was working very hard. I made a few mistakes, but nothing major and really enjoyed myself. It was great to lead the race for a few laps, but I knew it was only a temporary thing. Fernando got past me at the second pit stop as he was able to stay out a bit longer and I lost some time behind backmarkers. We now have a lot of work ahead of us with the Malaysia test and the rest of the season, but there is no doubt that we can build from what has been achieved today."
German Nick Heidfeld made a welcome start to his 2007 campaign with a solid fourth place, won on a new-for-2007 merit, further proving the 'quick-out-of-the-box' moniker that BMW-Sauber had expected. While Heidfeld snagged the points, his team-mate Pole Robert Kubica suffered gearbox problems that have dogged the team throughout winter testing and retired. Heidfeld was excited, "I had a very good start, which was an even better one than Kimi and managed to pass Fernando. Of course I hoped to stay in front of him, but realistically I knew the McLarens were quicker than us. Thinking about how happy we are, you should not forget where we came from as we started last season eighth in the constructor's championship. Our pace is really good and fourth is a super start to the season. I feel very sorry for the team with Robert's retirement, as he was also very strong. My tyre strategy to take the softer ones first was riskier. I knew after the first stop there was the danger of getting stuck in traffic, and this is what happened, but I took the risk anyway. The race was a lot of fun, but in the final laps I was a bit lonely. Mechanically my car was perfect."
Incident of the race goes to David Coulthard's aggressive move on newly-promoted WilliamsF1 driver Alex Wurz at Turn 3 on Lap 49. A move very similar to Michael Schumacher's move on Nick Heidfeld at the 2005 Australian Grand Prix, Coulthard was launched over the Williams and into the Turn 3 gravel trap at speed after Wurz closed the door on his ambitious move. Coulthard later admitted blame and apologised to Wurz for the move, "I tried to have a go down the inside of Alex Wurz's car at Turn three, but I was too far back and screwed it up. I went for the pass, but it was over optimistic on my part. The collision was my fault, not Alex's, so apologies to him for that."
The RenaultF1 team will leave Albert Park with their minds set to development of their 2007 challenger, the R27. Giancarlo Fisichella finished fifth as the best of the rest, whilst his rookie team-mate Heikki Kovalainen suffered a race-long balance problem and made a number of mistakes to build from in the coming rounds. Fisichella's comments mirrored the team's sentiment, "The race proved more difficult than we had expected. We knew that we were not on the pace of the leaders, but we had hoped to make up some ground and now, I think we realise there is a lot of work to do. From a personal point of view, I got the best that I could from the package today, but I was struggling with overall grip from the start. The car was handling well, and we had good reliability but so did the other teams at the front. Hopefully we can begin catching up from the next race."
The teams now move to Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian Grand Prix, held on April 8, with a test preceding the event planned for March 27-29.
To check out our Melbourne race day gallery, click here