Raikkonen Wins on Ferrari Debut

2007 Formula One Season
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Raikkonen Wins on Ferrari Debut
Date	March 17, 2007
Round	1
Track	Melbourne
Laps	58
Weather	Warm & Overcast
Pole Position
Driver
Time
Fastest Lap
Driver
Time

Melbourne hosted the opening round of the 2007 Formula One season once again, after a brief sabbatical away from opening the World Championship in 2006.

In pre-season testing, Ferrari looked like the most reliable package, having hired Kimi Raikkonen to replace the void filled by Michael Schumacher. Fernando Alonso moved to McLaren, alongside British rookie and GP2 champion Lewis Hamilton. Honda sported earth liveries, as support for ecological issues. Formula One changed tyre rules, which meant that Bridgestone were now the sole supplier, but now soft and hard tyres need to be used during the race.

Qualifying saw improved an improved performance from 2006’s backmarkers, Super Aguri, buoyed by controversially using a Honda chassis. Kimi Raikkonen took pole position for Ferrari, with Fernando Alonso second for McLaren. In third was the improved package from BMW-Sauber, who had made huge off-season improvements, and one of the best handling cars on the grid. Nick Heidfeld came third for them. Lewis Hamilton came fourth after an impressive Grand Prix debut. Robert Kubica was fifth in the second BMW, but the leading Renault was Giancarlo Fisichella, in sixth place. Honda struggled, with Jenson Button only 19th. Felipe Massa, after a strong performance winning his home race at Interlagos in the last race of 2006, suffered a technical problem with his Ferrari, and couldn’t complete a lap in the second qualifying session.

At the start of the race, Felipe Massa dropped to last after choosing to change his engine. At the start, Nick Heidfeld and Lewis Hamilton passed Fernando Alonso, who didn’t have Renault’s excellent launch control to help him. Raikkonen opened up a big lead at the front early on.

Promising rookie Hamilton inherited the lead on lap 19 from a pitting Raikkonen. Alonso overtook Heidfeld in the pit stops, to move up to third. Having fought through the field, Heikki Kovalainen spun, which helped Felipe Massa move into eighth place, and into the points.

Alonso overtook Hamilton during the second round of pit stops, giving him second place. Raikkonen was way ahead up front, and despite a brief off, won comfortably for his 10th Grand Prix victory, and his first on debut for Ferrari. The last man to win on his Ferrari debut was Nigel Mansell, 18 years ago. Hamilton had the honour of leading in his debut race.

Robert Kubica failed to finish for BMW-Sauber in what became a disappointing race, as Nick Heidfeld finished fourth in a car that had less fuel than the others around it. Felipe Massa was sixth after Giancarlo Fisichella. Williams got two points as Nico Rosberg beat Ralf Schumacher of Toyota. Super Aguri had their highest finish, 12th place. Jenson Button could only finish 15th in an awful race for Honda.

Kimi Raikkonen took an early lead in the World Championship, with McLaren-Mercedes leading the Constructors’ Championship.

Pos/Lap		Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1		Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:25:28.770	1	10
2		Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 7.2	2	8
3		Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 18.5	4	6
4		Nick Heidfeld	BMW-Sauber	+ 38.7	3	5
5		Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	+ 1:06.4	6	4
6		Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+ 1:06.8	22	3
7		Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	+ 1 lap	12	2
8		Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	+ 1 lap	9	1
9		Jarno Trulli	Toyota	+ 1 lap	8
10		Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	+ 1 lap	13
11		Rubens Barrichello	Honda	+ 1 lap	16
12		Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	+ 1 lap	10
13		Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	+ 1 lap	7
14		Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	+ 1 lap	19
15		Jenson Button	Honda	+ 1 lap	14
16		Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	+ 2 laps	11
17		Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari	+ 2 laps	20
48		Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota	Accident	15
48		David Coulthard	Red Bull Racing-Renault	Accident	18
36		Robert Kubica	BMW-Sauber	Gearbox	5
28		Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	Wheel	17
10		Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari	Accident	21

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Tracks: Adelaide • Melbourne

More Links

• 2007 Drivers' Championship Standings
• 2007 Constructors' Championship Standings