The Complete 2008 Australian GP Review

Amid all the thrills, spills, chaos and surprises in Melbourne, nothing was quite as shocking as the reigning champions' abysmal start to their title defence.

In theory it should have been McLaren - whose 2007 traumas lingered on through much of the winter - who began 2008 in spluttering form. But instead Lewis Hamilton took a consummate victory from pole position and established a very useful early points lead.

His determined, mature, serenity at the front of the field contrasted sharply with the Ferrari pair's anxious performances.

Engine failures ultimately eliminated Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, but their wayward driving had already dumped Ferrari way down the order.

In their defence, both started the race under pressure to make up ground - especially Raikkonen, whose fuel pump failure deposited him in 15th on the grid, while the team admitted that Massa's outside row two spot was mainly a consequence of the car's inherently poor one-lap pace.

Even so, they may still come to rue throwing their cars off the road in separate moves on Heikki Kovalainen when the points are added up in November.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali admitted Ferrari had made a hideous mess of their season-opener, but said there was no need to panic.

"This has definitely been a very difficult start to the season and we have got off on the wrong foot," he said. "However, we should not react in an over emotional way to this. We weren't a phenomenon before and we're not carthorses now."

Raikkonen in particular demonstrated that Ferrari had McLaren-matching pace in Australia (when they were on the asphalt, at least), but Hamilton said his team had not shown their full hand.

"I had plenty of time in me so I just used that to my advantage and tried to look after the tyres." he said. "The car was phenomenal, a complete dream to drive. We could have gone quicker, so I'm not particularly bothered about the Ferrari's pace."

Still, he wasn't under-estimating Ferrari's ability to recover.

"We can't forget that they are a great team and they have a very good car and two great drivers as well," said Hamilton. "I'm sure everyone could have a bad weekend at some point during the season."

As last year proved, season openers can be very unreliable form guides, and a Ferrari one-two in Malaysia would not come as a shock.

But at the end of 2007, Ferrari calmly cruised to the title as McLaren fell apart. Those roles were reversed in Melbourne. McLaren's battered confidence has already been restored, and they have no intention of squandering their early advantage.

Practice

Practice 1 - Friday am

2008 began as 2007 had ended: with Kimi Raikkonen deposing Lewis Hamilton at the eleventh hour, although this time it was only the honour of being first in opening practice that was at stake, rather than the world title.

As expected, their teammates Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen completed the top four. Less anticipated was the scale of the 1.8 second gap from Raikkonen's benchmark 1:26.461 to fifth-placed Mark Webber. The 'best of the rest' battle certainly looked close, but its participants appeared to have little hope of getting near the top four.

With driver aids absent and off-line dust prevalent, many of the field visited the grass and gravel -Fernando Alonso becoming particularly familiar with the run-offs as he probed the limits of his Renault.

He still took sixth, while his new teammate Nelson Piquet caused the first red flag of 2008 by spinning and stalling at Turn 13 - damaging his gearbox in the process.

Ominously given the new rules, gearbox fragility was an issue for several teams. Red Bull's David Coulthard had a failure during the session, while neither Williams completed a flying lap for the same reason.

Also in trouble were Toyota's Timo Glock and BMW's Nick Heidfeld, who parked early with wheel bearing and electronic problems respectively.

Severely short of spares and troubled by cooling issues, the recently-rescued Super Aguri squad completed minimal mileage and joined Williams at the foot of the timesheets.

Practice 2 - Friday pm

Ferrari's challenge started to go awry as early as Friday afternoon. Although Raikkonen's morning time remained the day's best, even the champion couldn't come close to it after an unsuccessful set-up change. The Finn ended the session sixth.

Hamilton took charge with a 1:26.559 lap, a full 0.9 seconds clear of surprise second-place man Webber. The local hero was actually fastest for the majority of the afternoon, but made it clear he did not expect a repeat performance in qualifying.

There were fewer technical failures in session two, but even more driving errors, most notably Massa's messy spin on the exit of Turn 12, and Jarno Trulli's late pirouette into the Turn 3 gravel.

While Williams recovered from their gearbox problems, Nico Rosberg's luck did not improve, as a malfunctioning differential made his car "unbelievably difficult".

Practice 3 - Saturday am

Final practice was exhilarating and bizarre in equal measure. None of the predicted top four even made the top ten - all either shying away from soft tyre qualifying simulations or being blocked when they attempted them.

Meanwhile the top spot changed hands no fewer than 17 times, with everyone from Raikkonen and Alonso, to Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel taking a turn in front.

Then in the closing seconds BMW rallied from nowhere to end the morning with a one-two, Robert Kubica beating Nick Heidfeld by 0.337 seconds. Alonso, Nico Rosberg and the Red Bulls completed an unlikely top six.

Qualifying

Part one

The sensation of Q1 was not who was eliminated, but the fuel pump failure that rendered Kimi Raikkonen's progression into Q2 pointless.

Having easily made the cut on its first lap, the Ferrari suddenly slowed to a crawl. Raikkonen tried to coax it back to the garage, but its momentum ran out just before the pit entry line, and although the Ferrari crew ran down to collect the stranded car, they knew it would not be permitted to take any further part in qualifying.

"I got the impression I was watching a replay of last year's qualifying, but an even worse version," said Luca Baldisserri, recalling Felipe Massa's Q2 gearbox disaster of twelve months earlier.

The drivers who were actually eliminated mostly blamed their departure on Force India's Adrian Sutil, whose spin at Turn 12 brought out the yellows at the worst possible moment - hampering his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais, and Renault's struggling rookie Nelson Piquet. They ended up a disappointed 17th, 18th and 21st respectively, while Sutil was classified 19th but would have to start from the pit lane in the spare car having cracked his chassis in the incident.

Unsurprisingly both Super Aguris also went out early. Anthony Davidson was also frowning at Sutil after ending qualifying in last place, but teammate Takuma Sato was thrilled to beat Piquet to 20th place.

Part two

Raikkonen was already consigned to 16th place, and it didn't take long for his row eight partner to be confirmed, as a brake problem sent home crowd favourite Mark Webber's Red Bull ploughing into the gravel before he could set a time.

"I had a strange feeling in Turn 1, but continued to push, but something broke into Turn 6," he said. "That was it and I was into the gravel. It's nearly impossible to get into the points now."

A red flag was required to retrieve the car - which was bad news for the handful of drivers who were completing their flying laps at the time.

The highest profile casualty was Fernando Alonso, who reckoned he was on a lap sufficient for the top ten at that point, but - hampered by a differential problem - only managed 12th place when he came out again after the stoppage.

"They cancelled that lap obviously because there was a red flag 100 metres before I crossed the line," he said. "But we cannot use that excuse to motivate ourselves. The result has been bad because we were not competitive, even on our second run."

The former champion had come within 0.024 seconds of making the cut, but that was little consolation as he pondered taking the start between the two Hondas.

After their miserable winter, Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button were thrilled to be 11th and 13th.

"I am in love with the team, I am in love with the progress we have made - it's very positive," Barrichello bubbled, while Button was left celebrating Honda's progress while kicking himself for driving errors.

"I made two really big mistakes," he said, "I'm personally disappointed, but really happy for the team."

Williams's Kazuki Nakajima was the other man eliminated, having also lost an early lap to the red flag. He took 14th, a respectable 0.354 seconds slower than seventh-placed teammate Nico Rosberg.

Part three

While the likes of Raikkonen and Alonso had their dramas in Q1 and Q2, qualifying had gradually distilled into a head to head between McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and BMW's Robert Kubica.

Neither could show their potential in Q1: Hamilton getting traffic then sliding wildly out of the penultimate corner, and Kubica being blocked by Raikkonen.

But they were first and second in Q2, and then reprised their battle in the session that mattered.

Hamilton grabbed provisional pole with a 1:27.092 on his first flying lap, but Kubica beat his times in the first two sectors.

The Pole then ran spectacularly wide over the grass at Turn 12, yet still produced a 1:26.869 and put BMW in line for their first pole.

It wasn't enough, though, for Hamilton reclaimed pole by 0.155 seconds on his next lap to get his 2008 season off to an ideal start.

Though he was thrilled with his first front row start, Kubica was sure his wild slide had cost him a pole.

"I lost more than a couple of tenths there," he admitted. "I took quite a lot of risk that in the end didn't pay off because I could have stayed in front of Lewis."

Q1 pacesetter Heikki Kovalainen was delighted with third in his first qualifying session for McLaren, especially as the team had worked late into the night to resolve a potential gearbox problem before it could set in.

McLaren's satisfaction was heightened by Ferrari's continued poor form. Felipe Massa's first flying lap put him second, but he couldn't improve on it and fell to fourth, as the team's winter fears of inadequate single-lap pace became reality.

Fifth-placed Nick Heidfeld was 0.367 seconds slower but five laps heavier than BMW teammate Kubica - and he enjoyed a comfortable 1.3-second cushion back to Jarno Trulli in sixth.

Toyota had showed promising speed all weekend, with Trulli's new teammate Timo Glock also reaching Q3 and taking ninth. He would tumble ten places down the grid after the session, though, penalised first for a post-practice gearbox change (which he expected) then for impeding Webber in Q1 (which left him baffled).

Nico Rosberg and David Coulthard took seventh and eighth for Williams and Red Bull respectively, while the unsung hero of qualifying was a man who didn't even get to set a time in Q3.

Sebastian Vettel got remarkable speed from his Toro Rosso as he easily progressed through Q1 and Q2 to put his team in the top ten in dry conditions for the first time ever. It was deeply unlucky that an oil pump problem then stranded him in the STR garage, denying the young German a chance to improve on 10th place.

Qualifying results

Pos  Driver       Team                 Q1        Q2        Q3        Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     1:26.572  1:25.187  1:26.714   14
 2.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           1:26.103  1:25.315  1:26.869   15
 3.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     1:25.664  1:25.452  1:27.079   13
 4.  Massa        Ferrari              1:25.994  1:25.691  1:27.178   12
 5.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           1:25.960  1:25.518  1:27.236   16
 6.  Trulli       Toyota               1:26.427  1:26.101  1:28.527   17
 7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota      1:26.295  1:26.059  1:28.687   21
 8.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     1:26.381  1:26.063  1:29.041   18
 9.  Glock        Toyota               1:26.919  1:26.164  1:29.593   17
10.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:26.702  1:25.842             18
11.  Barrichello  Honda                1:26.369  1:26.173             13
12.  Alonso       Renault              1:26.907  1:26.188             10
13.  Button       Honda                1:26.712  1:26.259             13
14.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      1:26.891  1:26.413             13
15.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     1:26.914                        8
16.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              1:26.140                        3
17.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  1:27.207                        9
18.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:27.446                       10
19.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  1:27.859                        9
20.  Sato         Super Aguri-Honda    1:28.208                        9
21.  Piquet       Renault              1:28.330                        6
22.  Davidson     Super Aguri-Honda    1:29.059                        9

The Race

The combination of opening round jitters and unpredictable driver-aid-free starts was always a recipe for a chaotic first lap - and sure enough all kinds of carnage erupted behind the battling Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica as the field surged into Turns 1 and 2.

Felipe Massa tried to out-drag Heikki Kovalainen for third mid-corner, but succeeded only in spinning his Ferrari into the inside barriers as he accelerated. He was fortunate to escape with just a deranged front wing.

Further back, slow-starting Sebastian Vettel and fast-starting Kimi Raikkonen converged with mediocre starter Jenson Button at the first corner. As the Ferrari swept around the outside of both, Button tagged Vettel into a slide. The Toro Rosso bounced back into both the Honda and Kazuki Nakajima, eliminating Vettel and Button, and breaking the Williams's wing.

As this unfolded, Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India was arriving in the Turn 1 gravel airborne and sideways, having been clipped by Timo Glock as the Toyota jinked to avoid a lunge by Nelson Piquet, who ended up making contact with both. Fisichella was out on the spot, Piquet would stagger around at the back of the field for 30 laps with a damaged Renault before retiring, but Glock emerged unscathed - as did Sebastien Bourdais, who took to the grass to avoid the mess.

The scruffiness wasn't over yet. The limping Nakajima tried his best to stay out of the way, but as the pack funnelled through Turn 3, Mark Webber (who had already been off at Turn 1 avoiding Vettel and Button) and Anthony Davidson tangled trying to avoid the slow Williams. Both sustained broken suspension.

After a brief safety car to allow marshals to tidy up, Hamilton stormed away from Kubica in the lead, while Kovalainen remained close behind the BMW, which was losing up to a second per lap to the flying Hamilton.

A fine start by Nico Rosberg had brought the Williams up to fourth, with BMW's Nick Heidfeld on its tail as both drifted away from the Kubica and Kovalainen battle, while edging clear of sixth-placed Jarno Trulli (Toyota).

Rubens Barrichello held seventh, but had Raikkonen all over the back of him - the champion having made up several places at the start, then driven around the outside of Fernando Alonso at Turn 3 before muscling David Coulthard aside through Turns 4 and 5. The Red Bull and Renault tagged along behind Barrichello and Raikkonen, while the rest of the survivors queued up to pass the fast-starting, slow, but characteristically determined Takuma Sato.

Kubica's qualifying pace turned out to be fuel-aided, as the BMW opened the pit sequence by coming in on lap 16. He emerged right behind Barrichello and Raikkonen (who would finally swap places two laps later), guaranteeing that Kovalainen would vault him for second when the McLaren pitted on lap 22.

Having established a 12-second lead in the opening stint, but with McLaren wary of further safety cars, Hamilton pitted on lap 18, slightly ahead of schedule.

Three laps later, Rosberg and Heidfeld pitted nose to tail from what had become second and third positions. BMW serviced their man 1.2 seconds quicker, and Heidfeld just reached the pit exit ahead of Rosberg. They merged back on track between Coulthard and Alonso, with the Renault then passing Rosberg around the outside of Turn 3 as the German got up to speed.

Trulli was no longer a factor in this battle, retiring at his first pitstop when the Toyota's battery - which had been steadily warming the cockpit underside all stint - finally expired.

The stops allowed Raikkonen, who was set to pit only once, to rise to third, right on Kovalainen's tail. Massa was also advancing in the second Ferrari, and by lap 25 he was up to 11th and plotting a pass on recent stopper Coulthard. It ended in tears and vehement disagreement though, as contact at Turn 1 sent the Red Bull flying out of the race.

"Obviously Felipe's in a quicker car and has more top speed, but if you want to pass someone you can't just run into the side of them," Coulthard raged.

"I screwed up the same way with Alex (Wurz) last year and took full responsibility for it. I would expect Felipe to do the same.

"If he doesn't, then I'm going to kick three colours of shit out of the little bastard..."

Unaware of the threatened battering, Massa blamed Coulthard.

"I was on the inside and he closed the door on me, probably because he hadn't seen me," said the Brazilian, whose eventful race ended with engine failure four laps later.

The collision prompted another safety car, and a masterstroke from Toro Rosso, who brought Bourdais in for an early final stop at the moment the pits were opened. Kubica, Alonso, Glock and Nakajima all pitted a lap later, and rejoined behind the Toro Rosso in the queue.

Ferrari decided it was better to give Raikkonen some more flying laps to pull away from the pack before pitting, so he was in a hurry at the restart.

After a failed attack down the outside of Kovalainen at Turn 1, he flung the Ferrari down the inside of the McLaren at Turn 3... and straight into the gravel trap. Firmly last by the time he extricated himself, Raikkonen made his pitstop at the end of the lap after all.

Hamilton eased away from Kovalainen during the next stint, with Heidfeld and Rosberg keeping the second McLaren in sight in third and fourth. Barrichello continued to run strongly in fifth, while Toro Rosso's smart thinking had elevated Bourdais to sixth, and the Champ Car convert had little trouble holding off Kubica and Alonso as the BMW struggled with the soft tyres.

Once again, Kovalainen was running longer than Hamilton, but this tactic would ruin his race. Hamilton, Rosberg and Heidfeld all pitted between laps 43 and 44 - just before Glock triggered the final safety car period.

The 10th-placed Toyota ran wide at Turn 12, hit an access road and was pitched high into the air, landing heavily and smashing its suspension before spinning wildly down the following straight.

"I had massive understeer in the quick right hander, and it just washed out," said Glock, who was unhurt. "Before I had been across the grass one or two times and I didn't have any problems to get back on the track. But this time, it was just a massive flight."

The resultant caution was bad news for Kovalainen, Barrichello and Alonso - the three drivers who still required pitstops.

Barrichello fared worst, being so low on fuel that he had no choice but to stop in the closed pit lane. A litany of disasters followed: he was waved out of the stop too soon and wrenched the fuel rig with him, scattering his mechanics (who were unhurt), and then missed the red light at the pit exit. His illegal stop had already earned him a penalty, ignoring the stop light eventually led to his disqualification.

Only ten cars were left to take the final restart, with Sato and Adrian Sutil having been added to the DNF list due to transmission and hydraulic problems respectively earlier on.

The unfortunate Kubica didn't even make it to the green flag - being rammed by Nakajima as he prepared for the restart. The front row qualifier's BMW was too damaged to continue, but the Williams only required its second new wing of the afternoon. The officials were unimpressed though, and awarded Nakajima a ten-place grid penalty for Sepang.

While Hamilton, Heidfeld and Rosberg cruised towards their date with the podium in the final 11 laps, the rest of the slim field entertained until the end. Bourdais had been elevated to fourth, with Raikkonen - who had lost more time by spinning at Turn 3 while chasing Glock - Kovalainen and Alonso in hot pursuit.

But they were also focused on racing each other, and on lap 49 Kovalainen dived inside Raikkonen at Turn 13. As both slid a little wide, the opportunistic Alonso gained two positions in one move.

Before Raikkonen could try to retaliate, his Ferrari's engine wilted, eventually giving up altogether four slow laps later.

Bourdais had Alonso and Kovalainen absolutely under control, but just three laps from an amazing debut result his Toro Rosso ground to a smoky halt, elevating the Renault and McLaren to fourth and fifth.

Kovalainen finally made it back past Alonso by forcing the former champion to defend his line too tightly at Turn 13, only to hand the position back again when he inadvertently set off his pit lane speed limiter moments later while fumbling with a visor tear-off.

Alonso then set a personal best lap on the final tour, preventing Kovalainen from trying another pass, and clinching an unlikely but fully deserved fourth on his Renault return.

Team bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds hailed their returning hero's performance as "exceptional" and "wonderful", and even the cautious Alonso admitted it was a useful confidence boost after a mixed winter.

Kovalainen was buoyant too, despite his late dramas costing him a certain podium.

"All weekend I have taken it fairly easy without any extra pressure of trying to be the fastest," he said. "I was taking it as it comes. I'm sure over the year I will get stronger and stronger - the other guys need to watch out."

Barrichello and Nakajima crossed the line sixth and seventh, with the Honda's disqualification then bringing the Williams into the top six. Bourdais and Raikkonen retired late enough to be awarded points for seventh and eighth - only six cars having actually finished this wild event.

But as is so often the case in crazy races, the three men on the podium had got there by leaving the chaos in their wake.

Heidfeld had produced a characteristically quiet but efficient drive to an equal career-best second place, while Rosberg was absolutely thrilled to mount the podium for the first time - especially given Williams's disastrous Friday.

"Really it was probably the worst start we could imagine, so we started from zero on Saturday morning," he said.

"I am really happy for the whole team. They have been working very hard and they have done a better job than teams like Renault and Red Bull over the winter. That is a big step forward. I think we are up for a good year."

Hamilton can be even more confident about his season. Ferrari are already trailing in the standings, and he warned that he had kept a lot in reserve on the way to his commanding victory.

"It's probably the best race that I've had so far," said the winner. "I really just paced myself and didn't over-do it. It is great preparation for Malaysia, so bring it on. I am really looking forward to it."

Race results

58 laps; 307.574km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1h34:50.616
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +     5.478
 3.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     8.163
 4.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    17.181
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    18.014
 6.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    1 lap
 7.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    2 laps
 8.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Kovalainen, 1:27.418

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)    50
Glock         Toyota                (B)    44
Sato          Super Aguri-Honda     (B)    33
Piquet        Renault               (B)    31
Massa         Ferrari               (B)    30
Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)    26
Trulli        Toyota                (B)    20
Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)    9
Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)    1
Button        Honda                 (B)    1
Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda     (B)    1
Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    1
Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)    1
Barrichello   Honda                 (B)   DQ


World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Hamilton      10        1.  McLaren-Mercedes       14
 2.  Heidfeld       8        2.  Williams-Toyota         9
 3.  Rosberg        6        3.  BMW Sauber              8
 4.  Alonso         5        4.  Renault                 5
 5.  Kovalainen     4        5.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      2
 6.  Nakajima       3        6.  Ferrari                 1
 7.  Bourdais       2
 8.  Raikkonen      1

Team-by-Team

FERRARI

Raikkonen's fastest time in opening practice is the sole highlight of a dreadful first round for the champions. Massa qualifies a lacklustre fourth, spins and breaks his wing at the start, tangles with Coulthard, and finally retires from seventh when his engine fails.

Fuel pump failure leaves Raikkonen 15th on the grid, and although an early charge on soft tyres and a heavy fuel load takes him to third, he goes off trying to pass Kovalainen and falls to last. Another spin soon follows, before he too succumbs to late engine problems. He is classified eighth.

After a quiet Friday, Kubica and Heidfeld lead Saturday practice and the former comes within a small error of beating McLaren to pole. Heidfeld qualifies fifth on a heavier fuel load, having lost time to electronic problems on Friday.

Kubica runs second early on then drops into the pack after his early pitstop. BMW decide to move his final stop forward to take advantage of the second safety car, but he ends up stuck behind Bourdais and struggling on soft tyres. He runs sixth until taken out by Nakajima prior to the final restart.

Meanwhile Heidfeld emerges with second place after keeping his cool in the wild race. Beating Rosberg out of the pits at the first stop is the key to his runner-up spot.

Alonso struggles to 12th in qualifying, and looks set for a few points at best as Renault's strategy of two long stints then a short run on the less favoured soft tyres is spoiled by safety cars and traffic. But the carnage ahead and some typically feisty passes (including a two-in-one move on Kovalainen and Raikkonen) take him to a surprise fourth.

Piquet makes a dreadful debut. He spins and damages his gearbox in practice, qualifies a poor 21st, tangles with Glock and Fisichella at the start then runs at a very slow pace until his damaged car gives up just after half-distance.

The weekend starts badly as gearbox problems prevent either car from running in first practice. Rosberg then has differential issues on Friday afternoon, before qualifying seventh. A great start, strong race pace and wise tactics take him to his first F1 podium in third.

Nakajima is 14th in qualifying, breaks his wing on Vettel at the start, later smashes it again when he runs into Kubica behind the safety car (earning a grid penalty for Sepang in the process), yet earns three points for being the sixth and final finisher.

Superb practice times - including second for Webber on Friday afternoon - do not translate into great results.

Coulthard qualifies eighth, runs ninth initially, then has a dramatic collision with Massa. Brake failure in qualifying leaves Webber 14th on the grid (after Glock's penalty), and his race ends on lap one following contact with Davidson as both avoid Nakajima.

Trulli qualifies a strong sixth and holds fifth until battery failure makes him a very early retirement. Glock compares well to his veteran teammate in practice and is ninth in qualifying, but receives penalties for both a gearbox change and blocking Webber.

He escapes a tangle with Piquet and Fisichella at the start to run at the back of the field on a heavy fuel load until running wide and getting destructively airborne over an access road on lap 44.

Vettel is sensational in qualifying, taking sixth in Q2, but oil pump failure rules him out of Q3. He then stalls at the start and tangles with Button and Nakajima at the first corner.

Bourdais is not on his teammate's pace and starts 18th. His low-key race is turned around by a smart strategy call under yellow though, and as others pit he rises to fourth place until retiring in a cloud of smoke just three laps from the end. With few finishers, he is classified seventh.

Barrichello and Button demonstrate Honda's progress with 11th and 13th on the grid, and although Button retires on lap one following contact with Vettel and Nakajima, Barrichello has a very promising race - running in the top six for most of the afternoon.

He is on course for fifth until having to stop in a closed pit during the final caution. He is also waved out before refuelling is finished, and is ultimately disqualified from sixth for ignoring the red light in the pit exit.

After their nervous winter, Sato and Davidson expect to trail the field and qualify 20th and 22nd. Davidson is a victim of the opening lap chaos, but Sato makes a fine start and runs as high as 11th early on, before eventually retiring with transmission failure.

Sutil's spin in qualifying forces teammate Fisichella - who had been as high as ninth in practice - to back off for yellows, leaving the Italian only 17th on the grid, while Sutil takes 19th but has to start from the pits having damaged his chassis.

Fisichella is taken out by Glock and Piquet at the start, and Sutil only lasts another eight laps before his hydraulics break.

Hamilton takes a calm victory from pole position, having led the way for most of the weekend. The Briton has a comfortable margin over the field throughout the race and stretches his lead at will.

Kovalainen qualifies third on his team debut and after jumping Kubica in the pits and resisting Raikkonen's challenge, he looks set for a comfortable second until the safety car emerges just before his final pitstop.

Pitting under yellow drops him to the tail of the field, but he fights back to fifth, only losing fourth to Alonso when he accidentally turns the pit speed limiter on.

Lap-by-Lap

Felipe Massa spins out of fourth and hits the wall. He rejoins and pits at the end of the lap. Nico Rosberg makes a good start to lie fourth, from Nick Heidfeld and Jarno Trulli.

Giancarlo Fisichella is flung into the air in the first turn © Reuters

Sebastian Vettel and Giancarlo Fisichella tangle at the first turn - both drivers retire immediately. Jenson Button and Anthony Davidson drop out after banging wheels - and local hero Mark Webber also sustains terminal damage in the opening-lap joust.

The Safety Car is deployed. Behind Trulli, Rubens Barrichello lies seventh from Kimi Raikkonen (up from 15th), Fernando Alonso, David Coulthard, Takuma Sato, Nelson Piquet, Timo Glock, Sebastien Bourdais and Adrian Sutil (who started from the pits after switching to a back-up engine and chassis).

Kazuki Nakajima pits for repairs at the end of the lap and rejoins.

Lap 2: Massa pits again.

Lap 3: A fine restart by Hamilton. Sutil passes Bourdais.

Lap 4: Hamilton laps in 1:28.614: he leads by 2.2 seconds.

Lap 5: Hamilton ups his pace: a 1:28.556 puts him 2.6 seconds clear. Piquet loses positions to Glock, Sutil and Bourdais.

Lap 6: Hamilton: 1:28.513 seconds. Lead: 3.1 seconds.

Lap 7: The leader goes faster again: 1:28.412. He is 4.3 seconds clear of Kubica.

Lap 9: Sutil pits and goes no further.

Lap 10: Hamilton leads Kubica by 7.6 seconds. Kovalainen is a lonely third, from Rosberg, Heidfeld, Trulli, Barrichello, the close-following Raikkonen, Coulthard and Alonso.

Lap 13: Hamilton posts a 1:28.007 to stretch his lead to 9.4 seconds. Massa passes Piquet for 15th.

Kimi Raikkonen drops a wheel in the grass and spins the Ferrari chasing Timo Glock © LAT

Lap 14: Hamilton dips into the 1:27 seconds.

Lap 15: And again: 1:27.750. Glock passes Sato.

Lap 16: Hamilton laps in 1:27.590. Kubica pits.

Lap 17: Hamilton (1:27.484) leads Kovalainen by 14.7 seconds. Massa passes Nakajima.

Lap 18: Hamilton pits and rejoins fourth, behind Heidfeld. Kovalainen leads.

Lap 19: Raikkonen passes Barrichello for sixth. Bourdais pits.

Lap 20: Raikkonen - who started on the softer option tyres - starts setting personal bests. Trulli pits to retire. Massa passes Sato.

Lap 21: Rosberg and Heidfeld pit from second and third. They rejoin almost as one but Heidfeld gains a place. He also puts Alonso between himself and Rosberg.

Lap 22: Kovalainen pits. Hamilton leads again. Coulthard pits.

Lap 23: Hamilton leads Kovalainen by 11.7 seconds. Barrichello pits.

Lap 25: Sato pits.

Lap 26: Massa and Coulthard collide at Turn One. The Scot retires on the spot. With debris on the track, the Safety Car is deployed. Raikkonen dives towards the pit lane but realises in time that it isn't yet open.

Lap 28: Bourdais pits.

Lap 29: Kubica, Alonso, Nakajima and Glock all pit.

Rubens Barrichello left his pits too soon, dragging the refueling man © LAT

Lap 30: Massa pulls off to retire.

Lap 31: Restart. Raikkonen attacks Kovalainen and sails past... but slithers through the gravel at Turn Three. He pits at the lap's end. Piquet stops and retires.

Lap 33: Hamilton leads by 3.4 seconds. Sato pulls off to retire.

Lap 39: Hamilton sets a new fastest lap: 1:27.452. He leads by 6.4 seconds. The closest fight is for sixth, where Bourdais has Kubica and Alonso in his immediate slipstream.

Lap 43: Hamilton and Rosberg pit. Kovalainen leads and sets a new fastest lap - 1:27.418. Raikkonen loses more time when he spins on his own.

Lap 44: Heidfeld pits. Glock crashes heavily. The Safety Car is deployed.

Lap 45: Barrichello refuels before the pit lane opens. Honda's refueller is sent flying as the Brazilian rejoins prematurely.

Lap 47: Kovalainen pits, as does Alonso. Hamilton leads from Heidfeld, Barrichello, Rosberg, Bourdais, Kubica, Nakajima and Raikkonen.

Lap 48: Kubica and Nakajima pit. Only Nakajima rejoins.

Lap 49: Restart. Barrichello is given a 10 second penalty for refuelling before the pit lane was open. Kovalainen passes Raikkonen and Alonso passes both of them.

Lap 51: Hamilton leads Heidfeld by 3.5 seconds. Raikkonen loses five seconds in the final sector.

Sebastien Bourdais holds off Fernando Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen for 4th place © LAT

Lap 52: Another very slow lap from Raikkonen - he is about five seconds off the pace.

Lap 54: Raikkonen crawls into the pits and stops.

Lap 56: Bourdais pulls off after his engine emits a plume of smoke.

Lap 57: Kovalainen passes Alonso but the Spaniard recovers fourth spot of the finishing straight.

Lap 58: Hamilton records his fifth Formula One win by 5.4 seconds, with Heidfeld second from Rosberg, Alonso, Kovalainen, Barrichello (subsequently excluded for exiting the pit lane when the pit exit lights were red), Nakajima and Bourdais.