Albert Park, 14th March 2008

After 246 Grands Prix, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro embarked on a new era here in Melbourne. As the 2008 season got underway, a new man was sitting on the pit wall running the team. Stefano Domenicali had his first day in charge at a race weekend, taking over from Jean Todt, who had guided the Gestione Sportiva through 246 Grands Prix since 1st July 2003.

As Domenicali admitted, this was a special day for him and also for Luca Baldisserri, who now fills the role of team manager. However, the group is the same as ever and has the same working practices and sense of team spirit that has seen it enjoy so much success over the past few years.

The first ninety minute session of the year immediately confirmed the pecking order seen for most of 2007 and indeed throughout the recent weeks of winter testing: namely that Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro can once again expect its strongest opposition to come from McLaren-Mercedes. At the end of the session, on a track which was, as usual, very "green" and slippery on the first day, Kimi Raikkonen was fastest ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and new recruit to the Anglo-German team, Heikki Kovalainen.



However, in the afternoon, although these four drivers were again in the top six, they were split up by the two Red Bull Racing cars. This time, Hamilton was quickest, followed by Mark Webber - a popular result for the only Australian driver in the field - while Felipe was the quickest Scuderia driver in third, with Kovalainen fourth. Then came Webber's team-mate David Coulthard, with Kimi rounding off the top six. Felipe completed a total of 54 laps, one more than Kimi.To sum up the Ferrari duo's day in one sentence: Massa went off the track at the end of the day and Kimi is not yet completely happy with the handling of his F2008. Today has been characterised by much higher temperatures than have ever been experienced at this circuit.