Kimi Raikkonen completed the perfect start to his Ferrari career by waltzing to victory in the Australian Grand Prix, and adding fastest lap to his pole position for good measure.
The Finn got the jump at the start and, with
Nick Heidfeld and
Lewis Hamilton both slotting in ahead of
Fernando Alonso, was able to make an early break. A series of fastest laps emphasised his - and
Ferrari's - advantage, and Raikkonen only ceded the lead during the two pit-stop windows that followed.
The Finn's only concerns came in the closing stages, when the Ferrari crew - unable to reach its driver by radio - began hanging a series of warnings over the pit-wall in an attempt to get Raikkonen to back off and conserve the engine ahead of its second race, in Malaysia, in three weeks' time. With team-mate
Felipe Massa having had to add an engine change to the recurring gearbox problem that affected his qualifying, Ferrari was taking no chances with Raikkonen's machine, although the Finn will have been pleased to escape the sort of mechanical misfortune that blighted his
McLaren career.
With the Ferrari out front and easing away from the rest, attention returned to the all-McLaren battle for supremacy. Although Heidfeld initially trumped both Hamilton and Alonso, running second to Raikkonen for the opening 15 laps as he took advantage of the greater pace provided by the softer
Bridgestone rubber, he also pitted earlier than anyone, leaving the two silver machines to scrap over second.
Hamilton appeared to have the edge on his double world champion team-mate for much of the first two thirds of the race, lapping on a par with the Spaniard, if not a little quicker. A minor error on lap six - the rookie's first of an exemplary weekend - could have caused problems, but the MP4-22 survived being launched over a kerb and Hamilton continued to run ahead of Alonso through to the second round of stops.
