F1: Raikkonen Cruises to Melbourne Win

[3stagevtec]

Fittingly for the man deemed as Michael Schumacher�s successor at Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen began his Scuderia career in dominating fashion, leading from lights to flag in the Australian Grand Prix season opener at Melbourne�s Albert Park circuit.

After easing his pace near the end, the Finn crossed the finish line 7.2 seconds ahead of reigning double world champion Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard�s rookie McLaren teammate, Lewis Hamilton, completed his impressive debut weekend with a podium.

Hamilton was one of the stars of a race that saw most of the action take place behind the leaders. The Briton, fourth on the grid, jumped to third at the start as Alonso was forced to back off and dropped to P4 while fighting with Nick Heidfeld�s BMW for second place.

At the end of trouble-free first lap � Anthony Davidson�s Super Aguri seemed to stall at the start, but the former Honda tester was able to continue �Raikkonen already led Heidfeld by 1.2sec, with Hamilton, Alonso, Robert Kubica in the second BMW, Renault�s Giancarlo Fisichella, Red Bull�s Mark Webber and Toyota�s Ralf Schumacher rounding out the top-eight.

Raikkonen�s teammate Felipe Massa gained four spots at the start, moving up to 18th. The Brazilian had started last, after qualifying 16th due to gearbox problems, then losing 10 grid spots with an engine-change penalty.

Despite being on hard tires versus Heidfeld�s soft compound � as a novelty in the 2007 regulations, drivers are obligated to use both tire variations during the race � Raikkonen had no trouble in pulling away from the German in a rate of over half a second per lap. By the time Heidfeld kicked off the first round of pitstops for the frontrunners, on lap 14, he trailed Raikkonen by over eight seconds.

Before that, however, Christijan Albers had the dubious honor of being the first driver to retire in the 2007 season, and in a bizarre manner. The Dutch driver missed a braking zone inexplicably, crashing his Spyker against the tire barriers. Afterwards, Albers admitted he got distracted while adjusting the car�s radio.

Meanwhile Massa�s recovery drive came to a halt when he reached the 16th spot and the Hondas of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The Briton, with a heavy fuel load, slowed down both Brazilians for eight laps before being overtaken by Barrichello on lap 14 and by Massa two laps later.

Raikkonen pitted early, on the 18th lap, giving Hamilton the opportunity to lead five laps on his maiden race. The rookie came in on the 23rd, one lap after teammate Alonso, and the top-three positions remained unchanged. Heidfeld was the biggest loser in the initial round of stops, dropping to fifth, behind teammate Kubica.

Massa, for his part, didn�t pit until the 29th of 58 laps, giving away a one-stop strategy to make up for the lost time. Button�s miserable weekend continued in the meantime, with the Honda man being awarded a drive-through penalty for pitlane speeding. On the same lap, American Scott Speed, who ran as high as 17th, had to park his Toro Rosso after an off due to tire problems.

Eight laps later, Kubica�s fine run came to an end when he drove his BMW into the garage with gearbox problems, an issue that had plagued the Swiss-German team all through winter testing.

Another top-team newbie wasn�t having as much of a stellar run: after a couple of brief offs, Renault�s Heikki Kovalainen spun but managed to rejoin on lap 41.

Also spinning on lap 44, when the second round of pit stops was under way, was local favorite Mark Webber, who managed the feat while entering the pits. The Australian lost time, but was able to continue unscathed. Ditto for Raikkonen, whose tranquil run was spiced up by a small off-road excursion on lap 47.

The second round of pits produced the final main change in the order, as Alonso was able to emerge of the boxes ahead of Hamilton to gain P2. From then on, the only piece of headlining action came from a dive-bomb move by Red Bull�s David Coulthard on Alex Wurz�s Williams on lap 51 in a fight for the 13th spot. The Scot�s overly optimistic maneuver on the inside caused both cars to touch wheels, launching DC�s RB3, which just barely missed running over Wurz�s helmet. Both men retired at the spot.

Seven laps later, Raikkonen crossed the finish line for his first win since 2005. Heidfeld rallied to finish fourth, ahead of Fisichella, who fended off a last-gasp attack by Massa, the Brazilian�s one-stop strategy paying off with a P6 finish. Williams� Nico Rosberg and Ralf Schumacher in the Toyota took the remaining Australian GP points.

�It wasn�t as easy as it seemed, but we had a plan and followed it,� Raikkonen said. �� We pushed hard on the opening laps and the car was perfect all day long. It�s an excellent start to our season.�

Despite the defeat, Alonso was upbeat with the eight points hauled from Albert Park: �We need to work harder if we are to win races, but we made the max out of the circumstances,� the Spaniard felt. �I had to focus on Heidfeld at the start and left room for Lewis to go, and that cost us. But it was a good fight.�

An elated Hamilton, the first black driver to achieve the pinnacle of motorsport, celebrated a debut that, a couple of minor offs during the race aside, was nearly impeccable: �Leading was fantastic, a fantastic feeling really. It was tough to have the champion behind me, but the team did an incredible job getting the car ready in the off-season. I don�t know what happened on the second stop, I felt like it was a good stop, but in all it was a great experience.�

The 2007 Formula 1 season resumes in three weeks� time with the Malaysian GP. The teams will arrive at the Kuala Lumpur venue one week before for a series of open tests.
_________________
Never interupt your enemy when he is making a mistake...

[Rory Phoulorie]

WHEN YOU WANT TO WIN, GO WITH THE FINN!

[Rory Phoulorie]

Race result - Australian Grand Prix.

1. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 58 laps 01:25:28.770
2. Fernando Alonso Spain McLaren Mercedes-Mercedes +7.2
3. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren Mercedes-Mercedes +18.5
4. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +38.7
5. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Renault-Renault +66.4
6. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +66.8
7. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +1 lap
8. Ralf Schumacher Germany Toyota-Toyota +1 lap
9. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +1 lap
10. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Renault-Renault +1 lap
11. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda-Honda +1 lap
12. Takuma Sato Japan Super Aguri-Honda +1 lap
13. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +1 lap
14. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
15. Jenson Button Britain Honda-Honda +1 lap
16. Anthony Davidson Britain Super Aguri-Honda +2 laps
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Spyker-Ferrari +2 laps

Rtd Alexander Wurz Austria Williams-Toyota 48 laps completed
Rtd David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Renault 48 laps completed
Rtd Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 36 laps completed
Rtd Scott Speed USA Toro Rosso-Ferrari 28 laps completed
Rtd Christijan Albers Holland Spyker-Ferrari 10 laps completed


Fastest lap:

Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari-Ferrari 1:25.505 lap 41

http://www.crash.net/news_View~cid~1~id~144703.htm

[Rory Phoulorie]

Give jack his jacket, Kimi drove a good race. Massa drove an okay race, but if Michael Schumacher was in Massa's starting position, he would have still put the Ferrari on the podium.

To be honest, if F1 used to give an award for "Person of the Race", it should go to Lewis Hamilton. He was able to keep Alonso behind him, with Alonso only getting past during the 2nd pitstop. People somewhat wrote him off after he shunted the McLaren during the preseason testing.

Heidfeld had an uneventful race, and Kubica's gearbox gave up. BMW still has a few reliability problems to deal with.

As I said before, Fisichella's talent could only take the Renault so far. If Alonso was there, Renault would have been on the podium. Anybody else finds Pakistan's wicketkeeper looks like a darker version of Fisichella?

Kovalainen beat Michael Schumacher at the Race of Champions a few years ago and actually won the ROC, so lets hope that he quickly acclimatizes to the demands of F1.

Toyota are going to leave wondering what went wrong, not with not being able to get both cars into the points, but that Williams, who are also Toyota powered beat them.

Honda should probably get Super Aguri to sell them the intellectual property rights to this year's SA07, which it should be noted is a re-engineered version of last year's Honda RA106. Honda can then go and re-engineer their own re-engineered car. Spyker and Williams will have a field day with that.

Coulthard seems to have taken the phrase "Red Bull gives you wings" a little too far, almost decapitating Wurz in his failed and senseless passing attempt.

Torro Rosso, which has a similar car design to Red Bull except for the engine, seems to be in the same boat as Red Bull. Scott Speed needs to watch MotoGP and learn how to be humble like Nicky Hayden.

Spyker needs their 'B' spec car soon. Albers has the talent, at least I think so from watching him during his German DTM racing days.

What a great start to the F1 season!!

[Plex]

So Ferrari won as predicted..