The Complete 2007 Australian GP Review

It seems Ron Dennis was absolutely right. When making his driver selection for 2007, he declared that having already secured Fernando Alonso, and already lost Kimi Raikkonen, the spectacular GP2 champion and long-time McLaren protege Lewis Hamilton was a much better bet than any of the other drivers currently in Formula One.

That belief was utterly vindicated in Melbourne as Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton filled the podium at the season-opener, having been a class apart all afternoon.

But Raikkonen and Alonso's performances were totally as expected. Predictably, when handed a fast and reliable car, Raikkonen took a dominant victory. Equally predictably, in a car that wasn't quite the fastest, Alonso focused on maximising his points haul and keeping his likely title rival in sight. Neither seemed particularly fazed by their moves to very different new environments.

No surprises there, then. But even Hamilton's most ardent supporters must have been taken aback by his astounding Formula One debut.

He ran slightly wide on a couple of occasions in the race, and couldn't match Alonso in the final stint. Other than those minuscule glitches, Hamilton's performance was flawless. He was barely any slower than his teammate - who is not only more experienced but widely regarded as the greatest driver of the post-Michael Schumacher generation - and often a touch faster. And he dealt with the marauding BMWs at the start much more effectively than Alonso.

But the most notable element of Hamilton's first F1 weekend was how naturally it all seemed to come to him. So much for the theory that he needed a year as a reserve driver or in a midfield team to acclimatise to F1. Admittedly helped by his intensive winter (and being under McLaren's wing since childhood), Hamilton looked totally comfortable in his surroundings from the first lap of the weekend.

Few F1 debuts have ever been so accomplished - although being in a front-running car certainly helped. Who can say for certain, for example, that Hamilton qualifying a McLaren MP4-22 fourth on the grid was a greater or lesser achievement than Alonso putting his barely-completed Minardi PS01 19th on the grid for his own debut six years ago. Or Michael Schumacher starting seventh at Spa in the Jordan 191 in 1991. But the mere fact that his maiden GP performance was comparable to these modern legends is testament to how big an impact Hamilton has already made on F1.

"Anyone who is here now must know we are at the start of a career that is going to be phenomenal," said McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh.

"He will be a world champion, it is just a question of time now."

Those may be the words of Hamilton's employer, but few outside McLaren would disagree. It has taken the 22-year-old just one race to electrify F1. What happens next will be extremely entertaining to follow.

Before the weekend it seemed like the major story of Melbourne might have been the rather more downbeat customer car row. In the event, Spyker only protested Super Aguri, and the stewards referred their complaints to higher authorities. Both sides in the argument have fair points - having more teams on the pace will be welcomed by the majority of F1 fans, but the sport must remain a contest between constructors, and it is debatable whether all 11 teams now fall into that category.

It is essential to have the discussion, but it is also important that 22 cars start each race and that spectators go home raving about moments of sporting brilliance like Hamilton's debut, rather than perplexed by technical arguments and endless protests.

In Melbourne, the politics were postponed, and everyone could instead enjoy a performance that will surely go down in F1 history. And that is exactly how the 2007 season should have begun.

Practice

After too many years of short-changing Friday crowds with quiet opening days, Grands Prix have become three day weekends again in 2007. The decision to redefine Fridays as test days and uncouple them from the engine restrictions that affect the rest of the event resulted in a genuinely exciting - and relevant - first day in Melbourne.

Whether the same applies at circuits such as Sepang and Sakhir where teams will have recent testing mileage remains to be seen, but in Australia at least, Friday not only provided plenty of on-track action, but a realistic guide to GP form as the race drivers turned up their engines and set meaningful lap times.

And the format change didn't mean that reserve drivers had to lose their opportunities to be part of a GP weekend - as BMW and Williams proved by allowing Sebastian Vettel and Kazuki Nakajima a chance to shine in the opening session.

Despite the weather causing moderate disruption on both Friday and Saturday mornings, the balance of power was fairly clear by the end of practice. Ferrari had the advantage, but McLaren, and possibly BMW and Renault, would be chasing them hard.

By contrast, Honda and Toyota had cause to frown, especially as their small but sensationally fast Japanese counterparts Super Aguri looked set to break into the top ten.

Practice 1 - Friday AM

A morning downpour meant a predominantly wet track during the opening session of 2007, with the quick times only coming in a last minute dash for 'slick' tyres. Fernando Alonso made the best of the scramble to go fastest by 1.493 seconds from Felipe Massa, who was frustrated to hit traffic while trying to respond.

Kimi Raikkonen was only 19th - unable to get a clear run on dry tyres.

Both the participating test drivers impressed. Vettel, in for Robert Kubica at BMW, was fastest for much of the wet running and ended up third, while Williams' Nakajima (replacing Nico Rosberg) looked tentative in the rain but leapt to second for a period on slicks before dropping to a still impressive sixth after being baulked on his final lap.

Practice 2 - Friday PM

Ferrari dominated the afternoon, with Massa beating Raikkonen to the top spot by 0.397 seconds. Impressively it was McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton who pushed them hardest, overshadowing teammate Alonso on the way to third.

Giancarlo Fisichella took fourth and showed strong pace on a long run before stopping with a fuel pump failure. The same problem had already afflicted teammate Heikki Kovalainen, leaving the Finn 18th. Renault-powered local favourite Mark Webber was also in trouble, a gearbox issue confining him to 17th.

The session was interrupted by a late red flag after Rubens Barrichello spun gently into the barriers at the last corner. Embarrassingly for Honda, both their cars were slower than the Super Aguris, as Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato took eye-opening 11th and 13th places.

Practice 3 - Saturday AM

Another shower meant a slow start to the session, before Ferrari took charge once the track dried. Raikkonen outpaced Massa for the first time - going quickest in final practice while the Brazilian was only fifth after developing a gearbox gremlin.

Fisichella and Hamilton starred again by taking second and third, while an error on his quickest lap left Alonso seventh.

But Davidson was the indisputable hero of the hour, taking an astounding fourth for Super Aguri, while teammate Sato went ninth fastest.

Aguri's 2006 sparring partners Spyker and Toro Rosso already looked destined for a brief involvement in qualifying, with Christijan Albers particularly troubled after missing most of this session due to a gearbox failure.

Practice round up

Sorted by total laps from all three sessions

Qualifying

Part one

This was arguably the best Q1 session since the introduction of the three-part qualifying format. Super Aguri's progress meant an almost-certain early bath for at least two drivers from the eight major teams, and an enthralling final two minutes saw every car from eighth to 20th positions throwing on a new set of tyres and trying to salvage respectability.

Both Williams, Toyotas, Hondas and indeed both Super Aguris all looked to be at risk at different moments as the picture changed constantly in the last few seconds. Last gasp improvements rescued first Jenson Button, then Alex Wurz, Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher, leaving Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard outside the top 16 cut-off.

Barrichello had been the first of the cars 'on the bubble' to go for a final run, and although his lap initially put him seventh, he would tumble ten places in the last 90 seconds of the session. An improvement of just 0.083 seconds would have taken him to Q2, but there was no time to respond and he was destined for 17th.

Meanwhile an error on a dusty track left Coulthard an unhappy 19th.

"There was lot of dirt at the last corner and I got out of the groove and onto the marbles and lost all the time I gained," he said, having been on course for Q2 until that moment.

The Red Bull was between the Toro Rossos - Scott Speed ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi and both desperate for more testing mileage. Spyker filled the back row, with Christijan Albers out of sorts after missing the morning's dry running and lapping a full 2.593 seconds slower than teammate Adrian Sutil.

At the front, Kimi Raikkonen was fastest, but only by 0.030 seconds from Lewis Hamilton.

Part two

His win in the 2006 finale and his crushing pace in the final pre-season tests may have filled Felipe Massa with confidence as he headed for Melbourne, but all that momentum was worth little to the pre-race favourite when his morning gearbox problem reoccurred before he could set a flying lap in Q2.

That should have left Massa 16th on the grid, but with Ferrari choosing to carry out a precautionary engine change, he would ultimately drop right back to 22nd. It was not what he had expected 24 hours earlier.

Hamilton impressed again in Q2, holding the quickest time until late improvements from Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld pushed him back to third.

But 2007's other high profile rookie was another casualty of the middle segment, as Heikki Kovalainen could only manage 13th place on the grid for his first Grand Prix. Although the fuel pump failure and consequent lack of dry running on Friday had harmed the Finn, he blamed himself for his poor performance.

"It is easy to make it an excuse, but if you are good enough then you should be able to find (the limit) quickly," he said. "Today I wasn't good enough. I didn't push enough and didn't manage to get a quick, clean lap in."

Both Williams departed in Q2 as well, Nico Rosberg only managing 12th in an oversteering car, and Wurz finding the modern qualifying format "fairly brutal" after an error left him 15th.

That was one place behind last year's pole-sitter Button.

"In a way I'm pretty impressed that we got 14th," he said. "It's an improvement on where I thought we were going to qualify... We're so far off."

Testing had suggested that, for all their problems, Honda were at least ahead of Toyota. Not so in Melbourne, where Schumacher and Trulli reached Q3 against all the odds. The latter was lucky not to suffer any damage after departing the pits with the rear jack still attached - an oversight that would earn the team a 2000 Euro fine. He shrugged the incident off and snuck into the top ten on his last lap.

Schumacher's progress was even more remarkable, as a gearbox control problem on his out-lap left him a minute off the pace at first. Superb work by Toyota revived the car in time for him to grab ninth.

Super Aguri had never even reached Q2 before, let alone the top ten session, but their form all weekend suggested that such a result was now on the cards. The only surprise was that it was Takuma Sato who reversed practice form and beat Anthony Davidson to 10th - not that the Englishman was too downcast with his 11th place.

"If someone had told us we'd be close to getting both cars into the last qualifying session, we'd never have believed it," he said. "We're all so chuffed."

Part three

Had Massa survived into Q3, there might just have been a battle for pole position. Instead the Brazilian had to watch his new teammate Raikkonen calmly dismiss all opposition with a first flying lap 0.978 seconds quicker than Alonso's previous provisional pole time.

It didn't matter that Raikkonen failed to improve on his second run - his 1:26.072 mark was unbeatable. The Finn greeted the result with a characteristic shrug.

"I'm not really exactly happy with the car but it was quick enough," he said. "I think that for the race we are much more comfortable. I think it is going to be more easy in the race."

Alonso would join Raikkonen on the front row, albeit 0.421 seconds slower and only after overcoming his 22-year-old novice teammate, who had held a provisional second until making a slight mistake on his last lap.

A late surge from Nick Heidfeld's very competitive BMW then pushed Hamilton back to a still outstanding fourth place for his first F1 start. The GP2 champion's words afterwards were cool professionalism exemplified, but his ever-present grin confirmed that Hamilton was well aware of the momentous impact he was making on the sport - and indeed his teammate.

"Frankly he put Fernando under quite a lot of pressure in that session, and it was great to see," said McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh.

"It makes me smile when he says: 'I know my place,'" Ron Dennis added. "He has every intention of trying to beat Fernando tomorrow."

Another of the new wave of superstars, Robert Kubica, completed BMW's best qualifying result yet by taking fifth, despite crossing the line a few seconds too late to manage a second new tyre run.

Renault were confident that Giancarlo Fisichella's sixth place did not represent their true race day potential, while seventh-placed Mark Webber had no idea how Red Bull might fare on Sunday - having been very pleasantly surprised to find himself so high up the grid in the still-developing new car.

The Toyotas took eighth and ninth, Trulli ahead, while Sato rightly declared his 10th place a "fantastic team effort" by Super Aguri, whose 2006 qualifying best had been a 17th position.

Qualifying results

The grid

 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari
 2.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes

 3.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes

 5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber
 6.  Fisichella    Renault

 7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault
 8.  Trulli        Toyota

 9.  R.Schumacher  Toyota
10.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda

11.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda
12.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota

13.  Kovalainen    Renault
14.  Button        Honda

15.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota
16.  Barrichello   Honda

17.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari
18.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault

19.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari
20.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari

21.  Albers        Spyker-Ferrari
22.  Massa         Ferrari              *

* Felipe Massa's engine was changed before the race

The Race

While Kimi Raikkonen launched into a clear lead from pole position at the start, both McLarens were pounced on by BMWs - as Nick Heidfeld challenged Fernando Alonso for second and Robert Kubica swept past Lewis Hamilton.

But Hamilton wasn't prepared to start his Grand Prix career by losing a place. He tucked straight into the BMW's slipstream, then switched to the outside and outbraked Kubica into Turn 1, in a move that would carry him not only past the Pole, but ahead of Alonso and into third position!

"I saw Nick Heidfeld coming from the outside, so I was a little bit more concentrated on him than the corner itself," confessed Alonso, whose rather hesitant attempt to challenge the BMW on the dusty inside line made him easy prey for his young teammate.

"There was no way I could stay on the inside so I dived back to the left and managed to outbrake near enough everyone," said Hamilton.

Unfortunately he couldn't quite make it ahead of Heidfeld as well, and the two McLarens would spend the opening 14 laps chasing the BMW - which had started on a light fuel load and soft tyres - while Raikkonen disappeared up the road at between 0.7 and 1.1 seconds per lap.

McLaren regained a little ground by keeping their cars out three (Alonso) and four (Hamilton) laps after Raikkonen's lap 19 pit stop respectively, but only managed to reduce the Finn's lead from 15 to 11 seconds.

Aware that Melbourne tends to see safety car periods and that the new regulations could make pit stops under yellow something of a nightmare, BMW split their strategy in the hope that they wouldn't have to service both cars at once in any caution period.

This worked in Robert Kubica's favour, for Heidfeld's decision to go on an early sprint then two longer stints left him lapping in the 1:28s in seventh place after his first stop, while Kubica was matching the McLarens' mid-1:26 efforts.

The Pole consequently emerged ahead of Heidfeld after he stopped on lap 21, and although the two BMWs were soon running nose to tail, Kubica knew that as he was due to make his final switch onto soft tyres several laps after Heidfeld's last stop, he had his more experienced teammate covered.

Both were well clear of the low-key Giancarlo Fisichella. Apart from almost banging wheels with Jarno Trulli as he rejoined after his first pit stop, the Renault driver would barely see another car for the first 50 laps of the race.

Behind the top six, Mark Webber held seventh initially - the Red Bull not a match for the cars ahead, but able to stay a few seconds clear of Ralf Schumacher and Trulli's Toyotas.

Takuma Sato had vaulted both of them at the start, only for Schumacher to re-pass the Super Aguri into Turn 3 and Trulli to do likewise at Turn 9. Nevertheless, Sato was able to tag along behind the Toyotas in the first stint while fending off Heikki Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg.

Most of the rest of the midfield was lining up to pass the very unhappy Jenson Button - the Honda slowed both by a 27-lap fuel load and a front wing that "wasn't working." His teammate Rubens Barrichello, on a much shorter first stint, finally got past on lap 14, with Felipe Massa following him two laps later.

The one-stopping Massa was making slow progress. He overtook the Toro Rossos, David Coulthard and Alex Wurz's even heavier Williams in the first three laps, but by the time Massa passed Button he was already 70 seconds behind his race-leading teammate.

The precautionary engine change now seemed unwise - for had he started 16th rather than 22nd he would surely have cleared Button sooner and been able to quickly join the battle for the final points positions.

Anthony Davidson was conspicuous by his absence from the upper midfield gaggle. Before the race he had been concerned about the chances of getting caught up in a first corner crash from row six. He needn't have worried - for an anti-stall problem left him sat on the grid at the start. The car woke up in time for him to join the tail of the pack but then a brush of wheels as he passed Adrian Sutil on the outside of Turn 9 sent the Super Aguri flying through the air.

Although Davidson continued, the impact damaged both his back and his car. Despite the pain and loss of downforce, he continued to the end of the race before being hospitalised.

Sutil resumed after a quick spin but would later receive a drive-through penalty for baulking Hamilton - and then another one for crossing the blend line while taking the first...

That was probably not quite as embarrassing as his Spyker teammate Christijan Albers' departure. The Dutchman became the first retirement of 2007 when he crashed at Turn 3 while fiddling with the cable from his earpiece.

At the front, a mid-race charge from Raikkonen - including a fastest lap 1.1 seconds clear of the McLarens' best effort - gave the Ferrari a 19 second lead over Hamilton by the time he made his final pit stop on lap 41.

With Raikkonen clearly out of reach, the focus was now on which McLaren would be second. At times Hamilton seemed to be edging away from Alonso, but the world champion was unconcerned by the fluctuating gap.

"Sometimes I was closer to Lewis, sometimes I left some space so as not to overheat the car and the people who we were lapping were a little bit inconsistent so we were up and down all through the race," said Alonso.

Knowing that he could run two laps further than Hamilton at the final stops, Alonso closed right in on his teammate at the end of the stint. The combination of these extra light fuel laps, Hamilton lapping Sato at just the wrong moment, and a pit stop 1.8 seconds quicker than the rookie's meant that Alonso rejoined comfortably 2.8 seconds clear of Hamilton after his final pit visit on lap 47. The young pretender was back in his place, but Alonso admitted that he was "lucky" to have overcome his sensational teammate.

The inter-team battle for fourth between the BMW Saubers ended rather more anticlimactically, as Kubica became stuck in fifth gear and had to retire on lap 37, handing the place to Heidfeld. Although BMW hadn't shown the Ferrari-threatening pace that they had hinted at in testing, team boss Mario Theissen was more than satisfied with fourth.

"We have clearly been the third fastest team, and that is a good baseline for the next races," he said.

The implication of BMW's rise into the top three was that last year's constructors' champions Renault were now only fourth best. A race that must have given Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds an ominous reminder of how their Benetton team slumped after Michael Schumacher jumped ship in 1996 saw Fisichella unable to get on terms with Heidfeld and finishing a minute off the pace in fifth, under pressure from Massa in the closing stages.

The Brazilian's one-stop strategy vaulted him past the upper midfield runners without much overtaking being necessary, but the combination of constant traffic, heavy fuel loads and tyres forced to run 29 lap stints left Massa unable to demonstrate whether he could have been a match for Raikkonen had he qualified smoothly.

Rosberg drove superbly to take a promising seventh for Williams. A long first stint allowed him to get between the Toyotas, and he then closed in on Schumacher before diving past with a bold move at Turn 9 on lap 36. The Toyota-powered Williams subsequently left Toyota's works team standing, pulling 23 seconds clear by the flag.

The large gap was partly due to pneumatic problems that afflicted Schumacher in the closing laps. He hung on to take the final point, seven seconds ahead of teammate Trulli, who successfully resisted Kovalainen and Barrichello despite brake issues.

Kovalainen's debut race was as scruffy as Hamilton's was immaculate. The Finn dropped behind Rosberg when they pitted together on lap 27, but might have re-passed the Williams by staying out five laps longer in the second stint. Instead he made a series of errors - running wide at Turn 12, spinning at Turn 1, and then visiting the Turn 6 gravel. Team boss Briatore was far from impressed.

"It was rubbish," he summarised, bluntly. "Kovalainen had a horrible race. He did almost everything wrong. Before the next race he needs to change his attitude and try to do better, because he has the capability to do it."

Slow pit stops contributed to Sato's slump to 12th in the race, although he was only four seconds behind the Trulli-Kovalainen-Barrichello squabble at the flag, Barrichello having rescued Honda honour by overtaking the Super Aguri just after the final stops.

Wurz and Coulthard should have followed Sato home. Instead Coulthard's over-ambitious dive at Turn 3 on lap 49 saw the Red Bull clambering over the front of the Williams in destructive fashion.

"I was coming too fast for the corner," Coulthard admitted. "I take full responsibility for that one. You have to have a go - it's all part of learning what these tyres are capable of in the braking area..."

The nonplussed Wurz, who hadn't made much progress on a one-stop strategy, could do little but accept Coulthard's apology.

Webber therefore inherited 13th, having plummeted down the order thanks to a slow first pit stop, a lack of pace in the second half of the race, and a spin in the pit lane entry at his final stop. He was only seven seconds ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi, who narrowly beat Button after the Honda lost further ground due to a pit lane speeding penalty.

With Scott Speed retiring with a puncture at half-distance, the delayed Davidson and Sutil completed the finishers.

All bar the top six were lapped by the flying Raikkonen, whose dominance was such that he even got away with a little snooze at the end of the race, running very wide at Turn 3 with 11 laps to go.

"I was looking at something else, not putting in too much effort," he admitted, having ultimately won by 7.1 seconds from Alonso.

Hamilton dropped 11 seconds behind Alonso in the final stint - but it didn't matter in the slightest. He was on the podium in his first ever Grand Prix, he had all-but-matched his illustrious and experienced teammate, and by pitting later than Raikkonen each time he had even managed to lead four laps on his debut.

"To lead my first Grand Prix was a fantastic feeling," said Hamilton. "It was extremely tough. I had Fernando behind me for a long time, and it's pretty tough when you have the two-time world champion behind you in your first race.

"I think this is probably beyond my dreams. To be in Formula One was obviously a dream, but to come into your first race and have such a smooth start is something you don't expect, but something we had been working towards. I'm loving it..."

Race results

58 laps; 307.574km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1h25:28.770
 2.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +     7.242
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    18.595
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +    38.763
 5.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  +  1:06.469
 6.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +  1:06.805
 7.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  +    1 lap
 8.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +    1 lap
 9.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +    1 lap
10.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +    1 lap
11.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +    1 lap
12.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    1 lap
13.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +    1 lap
14.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +    1 lap
15.  Button        Honda                (B)  +    1 lap
16.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    2 laps
17.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:25.235

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)    49
Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)    49
Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)    39
Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)    29
Albers        Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    11


World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Raikkonen     10        1.  McLaren-Mercedes      14
 2.  Alonso         8        2.  Ferrari               13
 3.  Hamilton       6        3.  BMW Sauber             5
 4.  Heidfeld       5        4.  Renault                4
 5.  Fisichella     4        5.  Williams-Toyota        2
 6.  Massa          3        6.  Toyota                 1
 7.  Rosberg        2
 8.  R.Schumacher   1

Team-by-Team

Hamilton out-paces Alonso for much of practice and qualifying but ultimately it's the world champion who takes second on the grid, with the rookie 0.3 seconds slower in fourth. A bold first corner move then brings Hamilton up to third at the slow-starting Alonso's expense. They pass Heidfeld in the pit stops but cannot catch Raikkonen. Hamilton stays narrowly ahead until the final stops when Alonso manages to jump him. The team are thrilled with second and third places after such a depressing 2006.

Fuel pump failures hobble both cars on Friday but Fisichella sets some promising practice times nevertheless. He can't repeat that form, though, qualifying only sixth and then fending off Massa for a distant fifth in the race. Kovalainen confesses to underperformance after qualifying 13th, then spends too much of Sunday off the road and can only finish 10th.

Raikkonen dominates from Saturday practice onwards, taking a comfortable pole and commanding the race on the way to becoming the first man since Nigel Mansell in 1989 to win on his Ferrari debut. A gearbox failure and then a precautionary engine change put Massa to the back of the grid. He uses a one-stop strategy to recover to sixth, but it's much less than he hoped for from Melbourne.

Button and Barrichello struggle to 14th and 17th on the grid. The Brazilian makes more progress in the race, using a short first stint to catch the upper midfielders, passing Sato for 11th in the closing laps and then chasing Trulli and Kovalainen to the flag. Button is penalised for pit lane speeding and can only finish 15th, suspecting a front wing problem.

The team repeat their strong winter testing form, with reserve driver Vettel third in the wet on Friday morning, and Heidfeld and Kubica qualifying third and fifth on divergent strategies. The short-fuelled Heidfeld runs second at first, but ends up behind the late-stopping Kubica in fifth after the first pit sequence. Kubica then retires with gearbox problems, handing fourth to his teammate.

Not as bad as testing suggested. Trulli and Schumacher qualify eighth and ninth after the latter's gearbox control problem is hurriedly rectified in Q2. They swap places at the start and run fairly close together all afternoon, losing out to the charging Rosberg on the way to eighth and ninth. Both nurse fading cars in the closing stages - Schumacher with a pneumatic problem and Trulli troubled by his brakes.

Despite losing practice time to a gearbox fault, Webber qualifies a surprise seventh while Coulthard runs wide on a patch of dust in Q1 and ends up a frustrated 19th. The home hero holds seventh at first, but a slow pit stop, a severe lack of pace in the middle stint and a spin in the pit entrance leave him 13th at the finish. Webber would have been 15th had Coulthard not dramatically removed himself and Wurz with an ill-conceived move nine laps from the end.

Good practice form, including sixth for test driver Nakajima in the wet first session, means that 12th (Rosberg) and 15th (Wurz) on the grid is a real disappointment. While the one-stopping Wurz struggles to make progress through the traffic on race day, Rosberg surges forwards, securing seventh with a strong move on Schumacher. Wurz is violently taken out of 13th by Coulthard on lap 49.

Still very unfamiliar with their car, Speed and Liuzzi qualify 18th and 20th. They remain at the tail of the field in the race, but as others hit trouble and Liuzzi's pace improves, he advances to 14th, not far behind Webber. Speed is only 19th when a puncture sends him off the road on lap 29.

The team are not surprised to fill the back row, although the 2.5 second gulf between Sutil and Albers, who lost practice time with a gearbox failure, is unexpected. Albers cannot keep up with the Toro Rossos and crashes while distracted by an errant earpiece cable on lap 11. Sutil tangles with Davidson on the first lap, then receives penalties for blocking the leaders and crossing the pit exit line. He finishes a distant 17th.

Despite not unveiling their new car until the eve of the race, Super Aguri show tremendous speed all weekend - most notably in third practice, where Davidson is fourth quickest. They are thrilled to qualify 10th and 11th, Sato ahead. His pace isn't so great in the race and slow pit stops contribute to him falling to 12th, albeit only four seconds behind a Toyota, a Renault and a Honda. An anti-stall problem immediately drops Davidson to last, and he injures his back in an aerial tangle with Sutil on lap one. He finishes a pained 16th despite the damage to himself and the car.

Lap-by-Lap

Pre-race: Christijan Albers starts from the pits rather than 21st place on the grid.

Lap 1: pole position qualifier Kimi Raikkonen makes a flying getaway. Fellow front-row starter Fernando Alonso is squeezed by Nick Heidfeld. The German takes second while Alonso drops to fourth, behind rookie team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri) and Adrian Sutil (Spyker) tangle on the opening lap © Reuters

Robert Kubica seizes fifth from Giancarlo Fisichella, Mark Webber, Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, Takuma Sato, Heikki Kovalainen, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Alexander Wurz, David Coulthard, Scott Speed, Felipe Massa (who qualified 16th but started last after an unscheduled engine change), Vitantonio Liuzzi, Albers, Anthony Davidson (down from 11th after almost stalling at the start) and Adrian Sutil.

Lap 2: Raikkonen leads by 2,0s. Coulthard passes Wurz for 15th. Massa wrests 16th from Speed.

Lap 3: Massa passes Wurz for 16th. Davidson and Sutil tangle. Sutil spins but both continue.

Lap 6: Hamilton runs wide and clips the grass, without losing any places. Massa passes Coulthard. Sutil relegates Davidson to last place.

Lap 7: Raikkonen laps in 1m 27.075s - his best yet - to extends his lead to 5.2s.

Lap 10: Raikkonen posts a 1m 26.577s. His lead grows to 8.1s.

Lap 11: Albers crashes into retirement at Turn Three.

Lap 14: Raikkonen continues to lap comfortably faster than the rest. Heidfeld makes the race's first scheduled stop and drops to seventh. Barrichello passes Button for 13th.

Lap 15: Raikkonen leads Hamilton by 14.9s. The pursuing pack all improve their lap times in the wake of Heidfeld's stop.

Lap 16: Massa passes Button for 14th.

Robert Kubica pits the BMW Sauber © XPB/LAT

Lap 19: leader Raikkonen pits and rejoins fourth, behind Kubica. Barrichello takes on fuel and tyres, too.

Lap 20: new boy Hamilton leads. Fisichella pits and rejoins between the Toyotas, edging Trulli over the kerbs at Turn One to stay eighth.

Lap 21: Kubica pits.

Lap 22: Alonso pits, as does Webber.

Lap 23: Hamilton pits - but loses time behind Sutil during the lap. The German is penalised for ignoring blue flags and comes straight in for his drive-through. Liuzzi comes in, too.

Lap 24: Sutil earns another penalty - for crossing the blend line at the pit exit. Ralf Schumacher and Sato pit.

Lap 25: Trulli and Speed pit.

Lap 27: Kovalainen, Rosberg and Button pit.

Lap 28: Coulthard pits.

Lap 29: Massa pits. Button earns a drive-through for speeding in the pits. Davidson peels in for fuel and tyres. Speed skates into retirement at Turn 12.

Lap 30: Button serves his penalty.

Lap 31: Raikkonen leads Hamilton by 17.1s, with Alonso third from Kubica, Heidfeld, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Massa, Trulli, Wurz, Sato, Webber, Barrichello, Coulthard, Button, Liuzzi, Davidson and Sutil.

Lap 32: Wurz is the last driver to make his first stop.

Fernando Alonso pits his McLaren © Reuters

Lap 34: Coulthard passes Wurz for 15th.

Lap 36: Rosberg passes Ralf Schumacher for seventh.

Lap 37: Kubica slows suddenly and heads for the pits.

Lap 38: new fastest lap to Raikkonen: 1m 26.172s. Heidfeld makes a scheduled BMW stop.

Lap 39: Barrichello pits.

Lap 40: Raikkonen laps in 1m 25.929s. Kovalainen spins at Turn One and loses a place to Massa.

Lap 41: Raikkonen ups his pace to 1m 25.235s. Rosberg pits, as does Sutil.

Lap 42: Raikkonen makes his final scheduled stop. Sato and Webber peel in some time later - the Australian spins on his way in.

Lap 43: Hamilton pits, as does Button.

Lap 44: Fisichella pits.

Lap 45: Alonso pits and cedes the lead to Raikkonen. The Spaniard rejoins second, ahead of Hamilton. Ralf Schumacher, Liuzzi and Davidson all pit.

Lap 46: Kovalainen and Trulli pit.

Lap 47: Raikkonen runs wide at Turn Three, without serious harm. Coulthard pits.

Kimi Raikkonen salutes the crowd on his victory lap © XPB/LAT

Lap 48: Raikkonen leads Alonso by 14.5s. Only Hamilton, Heidfeld, Fisichella and Massa - the top six - are still on the same lap. Rosberg and Ralf Schumacher run seventh and eighth.

Lap 49: Coulthard tries to pass Wurz for 13th at Turn Three. He flies over the Austrian and lands in the gravel, minus his front left wheel. It's game over for Wurz, too.

Lap 51: Kovalainen runs wide at Turn Seven.

Lap 58: Raikkonen wins his first race for Ferrari, beating Alonso by 7.2s. Hamilton is third on his maiden F1 appearance, from Heidfeld, Fisichella and Massa. The latter two cross the line just 0.3s apart. The lapped Rosberg and Ralf Schumacher complete the scorers.