Melbourne, 18th March 2007

Ferrari's new recruit Kimi Raikkonen scored a resounding debut victory in the 58 lap Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne on Sunday, beating Fernando Alonso's McLaren Mercedes by 7.2s after easing up the closing stages.

Starting from his 12th pole position, the Finn was only headed during pit stops, and admitted that his only problem was a radio failure before the race started, although after the race his team reported a slight water leak. Rivalling Raikkonen for the title of star of the show was Formula One rookie Lewis Hamilton who led his McLaren teammate for much of the race but finished a fine third. Felipe Massa came charging through from the back of the grid to finish sixth.

Raikkonen went straight into the lead on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Albert Park, but behind him, Nick Heidfeld followed him up into second place, then came Hamilton who had pushed his own teammate back to fourth. Robert Kubica was fifth followed by Giancarlo Fisichella in the Renault, Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli.



In the opening laps, Raikkonen gradually eased away to hold an 8.1s lead by ten laps. Heidfeld was next, around two seconds ahead of Hamilton who just kept a similar margin to teammate Alonso. Kubica was falling back gradually, while Fisichella was around three seconds further back.

On lap 14, Heidfeld became the first to pit which elevated Hamilton to second, but he was already 14s behind. Alonso was tailing his teammate, with Kubica next up and then Fisichella with Webber now in sixth, but a further 13s behind the Italian Renault driver.

The pit stops began in earnest on lap 19, with Raikkonen coming in first, then Fisichella on lap 20, Kubica on lap 21, and then the two McLarens on successive laps. The stops reduced Raikkonen's lead by four seconds to 11s, while the younger McLaren driver was still shadowed by his teammate. Kubica rejoined ahead of Heidfeld, who had certainly lost out with his early stop. Fisichella was next from Trulli who had yet to stop.

At half distance, Hamilton lost three seconds so that Raikkonen had a 17s lead over the McLaren pair. Further back, Massa had climbed up through the field magnificently and held seventh place but pitted on half distance, having opted for the softer choice of tyre for his opening stint.

The lead gap remained fairly static up to the second round of pit stops which began on lap 42 when Raikkonen pitted. Crucial, however, was whether Alonso could get ahead of Hamilton, but that was decided by a backmarker who held up the second placed McLaren driver which mean that Alonso emerged ahead at the second pit stop.

Raikkonen allowed his 14s lead to halve during the closing stages, but came home a resounding winner from Alonso in second place, while a graining front tyre meant that Hamilton dropped back to finish 11.3s behind his teammate after an impressive debut.

Heidfeld salvaged fourth after teammate Kubica retired with a recurrence of the team's gearbox problems, while Fisichella was a slightly disappointing fifth although more disappointing was teammate Kovalainen who made several mistakes on the way to tenth place.

Felipe Massa was the final unlapped runner after an excellent, single stop race, pipping Nico Rosberg who finished a fine seventh. Ralf Schumacher finished top Toyota runner in eighth place, claiming the final championship point.