Lewis Hamilton could have not asked for more. He had opened the Formula One season with a pole to flag victory in a Chaotic Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, which happened to be a dramatic thriller that saw only seven cars finishing the race.
The race was packed with drama as the safety car had appeared thrice, nearly wiping out Hamilton’s heavy leads. Despite all the drama, the best piece of action was the one which involved Alonso and Kovalainen on the penultimate lap. Kovalainen went past the former world champion boldly, desperate to make some lost ground, but Alonso replied cheekily and overtook him a few seconds later.
Raikkonen, who started from the eight row after finishing 16th in the qualifiers, also looked impressive. He quickly climbed up and at one stage had a running battle with Kovalainen for the second spot. If it was a great day for McLaren, it was a disaster for Ferrari. Felipe Massa spun on the first lap and was then involved in an incident with Red Bull’s David Coulthard before retiring, and Kimi Raikkonen, having benefited from the second safety car intervention, slid off the road trying to pass McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and undid all that work. Then his Ferrari let him down when he was running seventh with three laps to go.Indeed, McLaren should have had a one-two, but a third safety car intervention following a heavy accident for Toyota’s Timo Glock badly hurt Kovalainen’s chances as he had to pit when everyone had closed up. He dropped way back, was passed by Raikkonen, repassed him, then found himself overtaken by Renault’s Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard overtook both of his rivals in a wonderful move. After fighting back, Kovalainen repassed the Renault with two laps to go, only to have his car falter momentarily as they crossed the line for the 57th time. As he wiped oil off his visor he accidentally triggered the pit-lane speed limiter and a relieved Alonso pounced to head his former team mate home in fourth place.
Race Results
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:34:50.616
2. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber +00:05.478
3. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 00:08.163
4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 00:17.181
5. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 00:18.014
6. Rubens Barrichello (Brazi) Honda 00:52.453
7. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams - Toyota 1 lap
8. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 3 laps
9. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 5 laps
