Round 1: Grand Prix of Australia

Lewis Hamilton took a commanding victory in the Australian Grand Prix on a disastrous day for title rivals Ferrari. BMW’s Nick Heidfeld and Williams’ Nico Rosberg completed the podium,
while both Ferraris retired with mechanical problems after a series of
errors by drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

I can’t exactly find the right word for this opening race of the 2008 season, it wasn’t as chaotic as what the wet races produce but it wasn’t exactly boring either. It was certainly full of disruption however, with accidents after accidents leading to several interuptions of the safety car. There wasn’t a chance for anyone to develop their strategies – there was a lack of excitement, on what was such scorching hot day in Melbourne.

Kimi managed a brilliant start as expected and he progressed from 15th on the grid up to position eight but then was halted by Barrichello’s Honda for many laps. Kimi seemed to be comfortable though and he was in control, until when the drama began to escalate, to the front and back of the pack. Massa lost control of his Ferrari out of turn 1 alongside Kovalainen in third and ended up having to pit for repairs as the safety car came out. So, just after the first lap Kimi and Massa, ironically, were at the opposite ends of the grid. Massa later caused an accident at turn 1 with Coulthard ahead in the Red Bull – a few laps later Massa had to retire when his engine cut out.

The safety car was yet again deployed, as Hamilton had a considerable gap to second place man Kubica in the BMW. At the restart, Kimi kept his momentum going after a second attempt to overtake Barrichello. Literally throwing himself past Kovalainen in turn 3, Kimi carried too much speed and went into the gravel and only just managed to get out unscathed. Losing those hard earned places, he lost more time with a spin at the same spot a few laps later trying to recover.

It was just a story of guessing what happens next. The race got worse for Kimi after that first mistake he made on Kovalainen and unfortunatly the pressure ended being too much for the Iceman on the Prancing Horse. Although he has classified as 9th, the end to Kimi’s race was de ja vu of yesterday’s qualifying. He rolled into the pits again, and just stopped at the entrance 3 laps away from the end of the race. Obviously suffering a tired car, there was a question earlier whether Kimi could just retire and not have to take a grid penalty for a new gearbox and engine at Malaysia next weekend, but that would only be allowed if something caused Kimi not to finish the race. Let’s hope he can take the single point.

It was great day however for Williams, with both cars finishing in 3rd and 4th place. Nico took his first ever F1 podium! Sebastien Bourdais was doing a great job on his F1 debut with the Torro Rosso and looked set to finish in 4th place until his Ferrari engine unfortunatly died with 3 laps to go. Bad day for the Red Bull/Torro Rosso family then, as Vettel crashed on the first lap and Coulthard was knocked out by Massa.

I’m not keen on the new rule which states a car may not enter the pits to refuel on the lap the safety car is deployed. Because the safety car was needed so many times, it got confusing as to who was allowed and who was not. Kimi nearly went into the pitlane for his first pit stop but then took evasive action as the safety car came out at the same time. It just creates unneccessary confusion and frustration for drivers on track intially preparing for a pit stop.

ITV commentators were
saying how unusual it was of Kimi today – obviously they speak of
those two errors, first on passing Kovalainen, and then the second
little spin trying to recover. It would be unusual because this time
there’s no traction control! After going on and on about it all
weekend, you’d think even the commentators would understand why it was
happening. Kimi had charged up through the fields many times before, memorably Japan 2005, however it’ll take some practise to work around the chasing aspect of racing this year.

It really wasn’t a good day for the Kimster because he needed to score points, no matter how small. The only valuable thing he can take away from this first race of 2008 are the lessons of handling the car under those conditions. Without traction control, Kimi seemed completely fine until the pressure started building. He’s had a few experiences already in Australia of how tough the rest of the season can be and this can only be a positive, whereas Hamilton was flawless having no trouble throughout the whole race. But, well done to McLaren Mercedes on producing yet another strong and fast car, suited very well to Hamilton. Ferrari are having a few teething problems again and they must work a lot more harder. Kimi worked hard enough today and I hope he enjoys his drink when he’s having it. Good luck in the next week – Keep flying Kimi!


| Quotes – Kimi Remains Positive Despite Tough Race

"For sure if you cannot finish the race it’s not very good," Kimi told UK broadcaster ITV.
"But I think we should still get one point because Rubens [Barrichello]
went through a red light. It’s better than nothing but obviously it is
not what we wanted from here."

Raikkonen’s Australian Grand Prix Sunday completed a nightmare
weekend for the Finn, whose car suffered fuel pressure problems during
qualifying that rendered him low down the grid.

From there he put in a typically combative performance, fighting his
way up to third before going off at Turn 3 trying to pass Heikki
Kovalainen. Raikkonen then spun at the same place later in the race while trying to pass Timo Glock for tenth.

In a race interrupted by three safety car periods, Raikkonen found
himself battling with Fernando Alonso and Kovalainen for the lower
points positions until finally his engine begun to sound off-tune and
he stopped with five laps to go.

"I don’t know what happened to engine we need to have a look but I
went off when I tried to get past Kovalainen and did a spin and all
sorts of things happened," he said.

"But in the end all those things don’t matter if you don’t finish
the race so I hope we get that one point like we should and then we
will go for the next race and try to do better. This is only the first
race.

"The car itself was good when we were able to run on our own so I
think we have a good car but not that good a race here. For sure this
is not the best way to start, but we have plenty of races left and
every point we can score is a bonus."

Ferrari Race Quotes

Kimi Raikkonen – 8th: "It’s really disappointing
not to finish the race, but at least the point is better than nothing.
I had an engine problem, the reason for which now needs to be analysed.
The car was good and I had a good pace when I found a free track ahead
of me.

"I spun a couple of times trying to pass those ahead of me, but the
first time, with Glock, I put a wheel on the grass and the second time,
with Kovalainen, I was a bit too optimistic. This result is obviously
not the best start to the season but it is a very long one and we are
well aware that we are capable of recovering from far worse situations
than this. We have to put everything in place and then we will be
really competitive."

Felipe Massa – DNF: "A horrible start to the
season. We had engine problems which is unusual for a team like ours.
We have to understand what happened and react immediately. I was
fighting my way up the order all race long. At the first corner I lost
control of the car while battling with Kovalainen and ended up off the
track. Then I moved up the order and could have finished in the points.

"The incident with Coulthard? I was on the inside and he closed the
door on me, probably because he hadn’t seen me. Our championship will
have to start again in Malaysia. We know we have a good car we have to
work to be able to use it as intended."

Stefano Domenicali: "This has definitely been a
very difficult start to the season and we have got off on the wrong
foot. However, we should not react in an over emotional way to this. We
weren’t a phenomenon before and we’re not carthorses now. We have to
work out exactly what happened to the engines on both F2008s and they
are being sent immediately to Maranello for analysis.

"As for the performance, we saw that when we were not running in
traffic, we could run a very competitive pace. This shows that the
potential is there, but we have to be in a position to exploit it,
which means starting from the front. The whole team has not performed
to our usual standard. We have to roll our sleeves up and react, as we
know we can."

UPDATED Race Results - Classified:
Pos  Driver        Team                   
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)
 3.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)
 4.  Alonso        Renault               (B)
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)
 6.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)
 7.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)
 8.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)
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
World Championship standings, round 1:                

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

                
 | Qualifying – Lewis Takes Pole, Car Trouble Hits Kimi


Lewis Hamilton will start on pole position for the season opening

Australian Grand Prix, while reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen will

begin his title defence from a disastrous 16th on the grid after

suffering from fuel pressure problems in the first part of qualifying.
The Finn’s Ferrari slowed dramatically after its first flying lap of

the session, and although Raikkonen tried to keep it rolling as far as

the team’s garage, it came to a halt at the start of the pitlane entry.

The Ferrari crew pushed the car back to their pit, but Raikkonen could

take no further part in the session.



                But the rest of qualifying was an exciting start to the season! A scene of better things to come from BMW, Toyota and the Red Bull/Torro Rossa family. Robert Kubica continues his strong form in only his second visit to Melbourne this year, managing to line up next to Lewis on the front row – although he could have possibly taken pole but for a mistake on his lap. Kimi was on his outlap when the BMW of Heidfeld was roaring up behind him and the Finn had to make way – quite a worrying sight seeing as 2008 looks like an even more competitive year. Sebastien Vettel, another young gun who joined F1 last year, looks in great shape making the top 10, despite his ex-ChampCar teammate Bourdais left far behind in 18th.
Obviously, for Kimi the day was short and bitter. Ferrari seemed to be relaxed heading into Q1 rather late, but I think this wasn’t due to being confident but because of sensitivity – since Friday practise, they’ve fallen back against rivals McLaren. Of what seems to be a pure technical issue, Kimi’s fuel pressure regulator caused him to almost stop on track, rolling down to the start of the pit-lane (Nurburgring 2007 anyone? At least it happened during qualifying.) 

Tomorrow, the Iceman will start 15th and not originally 16th, as Timo Glock has taken a grid penalty for a having a gear box change. For Ferrari, this year at Melbourne is similar to what happened to teammate Massa last year who suffered a gearbox problem in qualifying. This time however, Ferrari don’t have a strong driver on pole position. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow – but it should be interesting for Kimi as he’ll have to work extra hard and study how his car will cope through what will be a very competitive race. Plus, Mark Webber had a bad day on his home grand prix with a car problem so Kimi has to watch out for that Red Bull infront of him tomorrow. Oh yes, and that guy Alonso doesn’t seem to be having a good time either! The Ferrari needs to improve qualifying set ups as the speed is there, but the race pace is competitive. So, keep flying Kimi and heads up! It’s only just getting started.


                 | Quotes – Kimi Targeting Points Finish

"Clearly I am disappointed," he said. "A few corners from the end of

my in-lap, I had a problem with the electronic fuel pump which forced

me to stop near the pitlane and so it was impossible for me to get back

to the garage to try and fix the problem. 
"These things happen, but it’s definitely not the best way to start

the season. Now we must try to do our best to pick up some points

tomorrow, because it is important to score something in every race."
Luca Baldisserri: "I got the impression I was

watching a replay of last year’s qualifying, but an even worse version.

We have a car on the second row and one which did not manage to take

part in the second session because of an electrical fuel pump problem.

We have to look at the data and the components to find out exactly what

happened. 
"As for the way the final session went, we knew from this winter

that we would struggle a bit to do quick times over a single lap and

that difficulty cropped up this afternoon. However, we are competitive

in terms of race pace and so we can be reasonably confident about

tomorrow, even if Kimi clearly faces an uphill struggle, given his grid

position."
What really happened with Kimi then? (from media.ferrari.com)

The reigning world champion had set a

comfortable sixth fastest time in Q1, but then on his in-lap, a fuel

pump issue meant he had stop prior to the entrance of pit lane.

Technically, the Finn was banned from taking any further part in

qualifying as the track marshals had to push his car after it stopped.

But this had no effect on the final outcome, as the problem could not

have been fixed in time for him to continue, even if he had returned to

the garage under his own power. 

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