Melbourne, Australia (Sports Network) - In his first start for Ferrari, Kimi
Raikkonen won Sunday's Australian Grand Prix Formula One opener at the Albert
Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia. The No.6 Ferrari driver crossed the
finish line 7.2 seconds ahead of two-time defending champion Fernando Alonso.
The victory was Raikkonen's first with the legendary Ferrari team and 10th of
his F1 career.
Raikkonen, who won the pole on Saturday, brought the field to the green flag
to begin the 2007 Formula One racing season. But the big news was that rookie
Lewis Hamilton jumped past teammate Alonso on the start.
The Finn quickly put two seconds between himself and second-place Nick
Heidfeld. After five laps the gap was 4.1 seconds. Hamilton and Alonso were
trying to keep pace about seven seconds behind the leader.
Meanwhile, Raikkonen's teammate at Ferrari, Felipe Massa, was working his way
through the field after being forced to the back of the grid with transmission
problems in qualifying. Massa passed six cars in the first five laps. Then his
march stalled as he couldn't find a way around Jenson Button or Rubens
Barrichello.
Raikkonen continued to expand his margin over Heidfeld as the field reached
the first round of pit stops. When Heidfeld pitted on lap 15, Raikkonen's lead
was 15.5 seconds.
Raikkonen pitted on lap 18, taking on fuel and new tires, returning to the
track in fourth-place.
The rookie Hamilton inherited the lead as Alonso seemed content to follow him
early in the race. Alonso was the next to pit, a 9.3-second stop.
When Hamilton stopped he held 14.3 seconds on Raikkonen, not enough to keep
the lead after his 8.7-second stop, but enough to stay ahead of Alonso.
Through the mid-point of the 58-lap event, Raikkonen was having an easy time
of it, holding 17.4 seconds on Hamilton. Alonso was now right on Hamilton's
rear bumper threatening to make the pass.
Massa was still struggling in 10th place. In fact, on lap 37 Raikkonen lapped
his teammate Massa.
Just after the halfway point Robert Kubica, who was running fourth at the
time, suddenly slowed. He pulled his BMW down pit lane and drove directly into
the garage.
Raikkonen was no longer building on his lead but had settled into a pace
similar to that of Hamilton and Alonso with a 16-second margin.
All the drivers were preparing for their final pit stops and the change to the
softest tire compound - a new wrinkle in the 2007 F1 competition. This year
drivers are to use both a hard and soft compound sometime during the race.
The top Ferrari pitted on lap 39 for the final time. Alonso pitted six laps
later and a lightning stop put him in front of Hamilton into second place. He
was 15.9 second behind Raikkonen...could he catch the Finn?
Raikkonen slid off the racing line on lap 46 and the mistake cost him two
seconds.
On lap 49 David Coulthard and Alexander Wurz collided to bring out a local
caution flag. Had it brought out the safety car, Raikkonen would have lost his
big lead.
Alonso was cutting into the lead at about half-a-second per lap, but it was
not enough. Raikkonen took the checkered flag without a challenge.
Hamilton, Heidfeld, Giancarlo Fisichella, Massa, Nico Rosberg and Ralf
Schumacher completed the points-scoring positions.
The next race in the series is scheduled for Sunday, April 8 at the Sepang
Circuit in Malaysia.