In a performance reminiscent of that which delivered him his breakthrough
Formula 1 victory in Montreal last year,
Lewis Hamilton got his 2008 title bid off to the perfect start by triumphing in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne – never putting a foot wrong as the heat and lack of traction control sent some of his rivals spinning into overdrive.
In so doing, not only did the Briton open up a handy ten point advantage over the non-scoring
Kimi Raikkonen – the man most expect to be his principal challenger this season – he also gave McLaren-Mercedes its first win Down Under since
David Coulthard prevailed five years ago, bringing the Woking-based outfit's success tally in Oz level with that of chief rival
Ferrari.
The start was every bit as chaotic as many had predicted in the absence of launch control on the cars for the first time since the 2000 season, but pole-sitter Hamilton just made it stick by holding off a fast-starting
Robert Kubica into turn one, as behind them
Heikki Kovalainen and
Felipe Massa duelled it out for third place.
That battle ended up in Massa rather unceremoniously spinning off all on his own – necessitating a slow trip back to the pit-lane for the Brazilian for a new nose cone – but further behind still all sorts of fun and games were going on, with the ensuing mêlée leaving
Sebastian Vettel,
Jenson Button,
Mark Webber,
Giancarlo Fisichella and
Anthony Davidson all out of the race before the opening lap had even been completed. Vettel and Button came together, Davidson made contact with
Williams'
Kazuki Nakajima and Fisichella was left bemoaning ‘kamikaze' moves on the part of some of his competitors.
