Hamilton Takes First In The First Race


By Emma Aitken
March 16 2008

McLaren had a great start to the season while Ferrari had a total nightmare. Neither cars actually finished the race and Kimi only managed to pick up a point due to the disqualification of Barrichello. The first race was not without its ups and downs with only eight cars actually going over the finish line.

And so, after a long, cold winter the Formula 1 season finally brought us sunshine again, in the blistering heat of Melbourne. Things could not have got off to a better start for Lewis Hamilton as he claimed his first win of the season. As usual though, it didn’t come too easily for him.

The young McLaren driver had to hold his nerve behind three safety cars along the way to taking the chequered flag.  He was always in a class of his own though as far as raw speed was concerned. McLaren may have had a superb start to the season but Ferrari most certainly did not.

The team only managed to pick up one point today which is certainly not what was wanted or expected. With the pack turned upside down what with one thing and another it meant some unfamiliar faces joined that of Hamilton’s up on the podium at Albert Park. Rosberg went up there for the first time in his career and was clearly elated with his performance. From beginning to end one incident followed another.

There was some carnage at the first turn. Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel made contact and as a result Fisichella in his maiden voyage for Force India took a trip through the air. He and Vettel never went any further. It only took Button another lap or so before his car became a fatality of the first corner skirmish. Massa had a bad start while trying to get round Kovalainen. He lost ground and had to take a trip to the pits with damage to his nose cone. Raikkonen got off to a great start.

His fifteenth slot on the grid soon became eighth as he went up the left hand side of the grid, managing to avoid any incidents along the way. Webber and Davidson weren’t so lucky and both men had to retire, again through getting caught up in the backlash of the Button/Vettel spat. Hamilton and Kubica got cleanly away but it was clear that Hamilton had the better pace as he quickly pulled away from the BMW.

 Kubica came in for fuel before Hamilton did too so even on a lighter fuel load from the start of the race, he could do nothing to keep up with the very quick McLaren. Kovalainen enjoyed leading his first Grand Prix for four laps when his team mate went in for his first pit stop. Heidfeld and Rosberg traded positions during their pit stops. They both came in together and thanks to a stellar BMW performance Heidfeld came out having gained a position. 

Raikkonen had obviously been fuelled to bursting from the start of the race because he was still out steadily working his way through the pack as everyone else nipped in and out on their pit stops.  It seems incredible to have to say it, but it seemed his eye just wasn’t on the ball today.

Several silly driving errors saw him leave the grid on two occasions leaving others to over take him. He had been handed a higher position through his team mate having a run in with Coulthard which resulted in the Scot’s retirement (who subsequently went on to be interviewed by Louise Goodman and wasn’t what you might call polite about what it was he wanted to do to Mr Massa when he next got the chance!) but just threw it all away.

Massa was the next casualty of the day. His suspension did not withstand his run in with David. I just hope they didn’t run in to each other soon afterwards as I’m sure the sparks would have flown. So while all was falling to pieces and cars just gave up the ghost in the uncompromising, relentless heat, one Lewis Hamilton just carried on his merry way at the front of the pack. There wasn’t much of a pack left by this stage though.

Timo Glock had a huge shunt. He went off track but got lifted clean in the air as he tried to run the car through a very uneven exit road. The safety car made its third appearance while Glock’s car was cleared away. Barrichello had no choice but to come in for fuel even though he knew he would take a penalty for it while the safety car was out on track.

His lollipop man made an error though and the Honda quickly moved off when instructed to with the fuel rig still attached to the car. Several mechanics hit the deck as a result. Luckily no one was seriously hurt though. Kovalainen fell foul to seriously bad timing for his pit stop due to the arrival of the safety car. He had not made his second stop. By the time the pit lane was opened the rest of the pack had queued up behind Heikki and he fell to the back after his stop. 

Kubica was knocked off course by an over exuberant Nakajima which proved to be fatal for him and he took his BMW back to the garage to park it up. The Stewards held Nakajima responsible to the incident and he will start in Malaysia taking a ten place grid penalty. 

Bourdais in his debut for Toro Rosso had been having a great time, picking his way through the spoils and looked like he was going to take away five championship points from his first race. It was so unfortunate to see his engine pack up just three laps from the finish.

Kovalainen and Alonso gave us a highly entertaining scrap for position in the closing laps. Kovvy looked to have done it, passing the Renault, but as they flew down the pit straight Kovvy looked to be having gear box problems as he slowed considerably for a few seconds, allowing Alonso to regain the position he had just lost. The actual problem with Kovvy turned out to be an accident with pushing the wrong button.

While reaching to remove a strip from his visor his fist caught the button for the pit lane speed limiter and slowed himself right down. Once he had established what he had done he rectified the situation and raced on. While all this was occurring Kimi’s very sick sounding engine gave up the good fight and he retired from what was a nightmare race for him from start to finish. So at the end of it all Alonso and Kovvy took fourth and fifth.

Nakajima inherited sixth position due to the disqualification of Barichello for ignoring the red light at the end of the pit lane. This then meant that Bourdais did end up taking seventh position and Raikkonen took eighth. And that was it. No one else completed the Australian Grand Prix.

AS far as action, excitement, thrills and spills are concerned, you couldn’t have hoped for a better opening race to the season. Hamilton winning it put the cherry on top!  

1

HamiltonMcLaren1h34m50.6s
2HeidfeldBMW+5.5s
3RosbergWilliams+8.2s
4AlonsoRenault+17.2s
5KovalainenMcLaren+18.0s
6NakajimaWilliams+1 Lap
7BourdaisToro Rosso+3 Laps
8RaikkonenFerrari+5 Laps
9KubicaBMW+11 Laps
10GlockToyota+15 Laps
11SatoSuper Aguri+ 26 Laps
12PiquetRenault+ 28 Laps
13MassaFerrari+ 29 Laps
14CoulthardRed Bull Racing+ 33 Laps
15TrulliToyota+ 39 Laps
16SutilForce India+ 50 Laps
17VettelToro Rosso+ 58 Laps
18ButtonHonda+ 58 Laps
19WebberRed Bull Racing+ 58 Laps
20FisichellaForce India+ 58 Laps
21DavidsonSuper Aguri+ 58 Laps
DQBarrichelloHonda