Hamilton dominates as Ferrari fail to finish. Bourdais impresses on debut while Rosberg and Heidfeld earn podium finishes.
Lewis Hamilton managed to keep his head while his main rivals floundered in the Melbourne heat. In a race which featured three safety car periods and the retirement of both Ferrari's the Englishman drove a faultless race to win the first Grand Prix of the season.
A hectic qualifying session yesterday lead to an unusual looking grid, with several big names in unfamiliar positions. While Lewis Hamilton claimed pole his biggest rival, defending champion Kimi Raikkonen, could only manage 15th after suffering a fuel pump failure which caused him to retire from Q2. Robert Kubica provided a surprise by lining up on the front row next to Hamilton, despite an off-track excursion on his quickest lap. The two youngsters became the youngest front row in the history of Formula 1. Behind them came Kovaleinen in third, Massa in fourth and the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld in fifth. Local favourite Mark Webber endured more bad luck, going off after a brake failure. The biggest surprise was provided by Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso. In a modified version of last year’s car he started from ninth. Double World Champion Fernando Alonso could only manage 11th position. Nelson Piquet Jr had a torrid time and lined up in 21st, the same position from which his father started his Formula 1 career.
Hamilton made a textbook start from pole to lead into turn one, followed by Kubica and Kovaleinen. Massa, without traction control to rescue him, lost the back end of his Ferrari and spun into the wall, damaging his front wing. In a chaotic first lap Fisichella, Vettel, Button, Webber and Davidson were all eliminated. The big winner was Raikkonen who gained seven places before the safety car was deployed.
When the safety car pulled in Raikkonen found himself behind Barrichello’s Honda. Force India’s disappointing debut was completed when Sutil, who had started from the pit lane and made good progress, pulled in to retire. Meanwhile, Nakajima exerted his authority over new boy Piquet with an accomplished pass on lap 10.
Kubica was the first of the leaders to pit, on lap 17, with the Pole rejoining behind Raikkonen. On the next lap Hamilton also pitted, emerging from the pits behind Heidfeld who had inherited third position. On lap 19 Raikkonen finally made it past Barrichello and immediately pulled out a significant gap. Trulli’s promising weekend ended on lap 21 as the clearly frustrated Italian pulled in to retire.
Rosberg and Heidfeld both pitted on lap 22 with Heidfeld emerging in front. On the same lap Kovaleinen pulled in from the lead for his first stop. Rejoining just in front of Raikkonen, the top three was Hamilton, Kovaleinen and Raikkonen, with the latter the only driver yet to stop.
Lap 26 saw a controversial collision between Massa and Coulthard going into turn one, when the Brazilian attempted to overtake the Scotsman. Coulthard was eliminated on the spot. Massa would join him in retirement on lap 30.
The safety car was deployed for the second time while Coulthard’s car was recovered. Ferrari did not bring Raikkonen in for fuel and, on the first lap back racing he dived inside Kovaleinen at turn three but missed his braking point and ran wide. After a subsequent pit stop the Finn found himself at the tail of the field, 40 seconds behind race leader Hamilton. Kubica and Bourdais both took advantage of the safety car period to make their second and final stops.
The high attrition rate continued with the retirements of Piquet and Sato, leaving only 11 cars running. A close battle ensued between Bourdais, Kubica and Alonso for sixth position, with the French rookie showing good composure under pressure. Up front Hamilton continued to lead from team-mate Kovaleinen with Heidfeld in third, followed by Rosberg and Barrichello.
By lap 43 Raikkonen had caught tenth place man Timo Glock but spun off trying to pass him after putting a wheel on the grass. On the same lap Hamilton and Rosberg both pitted. Heidfeld followed two laps later, on the same lap that Glock suffered a big accident exiting turn 12, bringing out the safety car yet again. Barrichello took the opportunity to make his final stop but pulled away with the fuel hose still attached, knocking over his mechanics. Barrichello’s woes were further compounded by a ten second stop/go penalty for pitting before the pit lane was declared open. The Brazilian had little choice as his car was extremely low on fuel.
Under the safety car Kovaleinen pitted from the lead, along with Fernando Alonso. Both of their races were severely affected as they rejoined at the back of the field. Just after the safety car pulled in Nakajima pitted to replace a damaged nose after running into Kubica, who was forced to call it a day. A frantic battle between Raikkonen, Kovaleinen and Alonso saw the Spaniard emerge in front followed by Kovaleinen and then Raikkonen. Sohrtly after it became obvious that Raikkonen’s Ferrari had a serious problem as the Finn lapped several seconds off the pace.
Despite intense pressure from Alonso, Bourdais remained calm and it was Alonso himelf who started to come under pressure from Kovaleinen behind. Raikkone finally pulled off the circuit to retire on lap 55. Just a lap later and Bourdais joined him, his Toro Rosso’s engine expiring, ending a fantastic debut performance.
The highlight of the last two laps was a great battle between Alonso and Kovaleinen, as the Finn passed the Spaniard and was almost immediately repassed. In front, Hamilton took the chequered flag from Heidfeld in second and Rosberg completing the podium in third. Despite retiring, Bourdais still claimed two points following Barrichello's disqualification after the race for leaving the pits while the red light was on. Nakajima will have a 10 place grid penalty at the next race for his part in the collision with Kubica.
The teams have just seven days before the next race in Malaysia at the superb Sepang circuit. While McLaren will be confident it is clear that Ferrari do have excellent pace. BMW Sauber has also demonstrated that they can be serious contenders for race wins this year. Early indications are that it could be a classic season with multiple race winners.
RESULT
- Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren)
- Nick HEIDFELD (BMW-Sauber)
- Nico ROSBERG (Williams)
- Fernando ALONSO (Renault)
- Heikki KOVALEINEN (McLaren)
- Kazuki NAKAJIMA (Williams)
- Sebastien BOURDAIS (Toro Rosso)
- Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)
NOT CLASSIFIED
- Robert KUBICA (BMW-Sauber)
- Timo GLOCK (Toyota)
- Takuma SATO (Super Aguri)
- Nelson PIQUET Jr (Renault)
- Felipe MASSA (Ferrari)
- David COULTHARD (Red Bull)
- Jarno TRULLI (Toyota)
- Adrian SUTIL (Force India)
- Mark WEBBER (Red Bull)
- Jenson BUTTON (Honda)
- Anthony DAVIDSON (Super Aguri)
- Sebastian VETTEL (BMW-Sauber)
- Giancarlo FISICHELLA (Force India)
DISQUALIFIED
- Rubens BARRICHELLO (Honda)
DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP
- HAMILTON (10)
- HEIDFELD (8)
- ROSBERG (6)
- ALONSO (5)
- KOVALEINEN (4)
- NAKAJIMA (3)
- BOURDAIS (2)
- RAIKKONEN (1)
CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP
- McLAREN (14)
- WILLIAMS (9)
- BMW SAUBER (8)
- RENAULT (5)
- TORO ROSSO (2)
- FERRARI (1)
