Melbourne, 16th March

To say that Ferrari did not have a good start to the 2008 season would be something of an understatement, with Kimi Raikkonen classified eighth, thus securing a "consolation point" and Felipe Massa posting a retirement at the halfway point on lap 29. In fact, the Finn was originally classified ninth but moved up one place after Barrichello was disqualified.
Things went badly for Massa shortly after the start, as he spun out of fourth place, hitting the wall in a battle with Kovalainen, forcing him to pit for a new nose. Out in front, Hamilton, (McLaren-Mercedes) starting from pole for the seventh time, led Kubica (BMW-Sauber) and Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes.) Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) moved up to fourth ahead of Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber) and Trulli (Toyota.) Kimi had moved up from 15th on the grid to eighth at this point.
Button and Davidson collided in the Honda and Super Aguri and local boy Mark Webber in the Red Bull also went no further than the opening lap. The incidents saw the safety car deployed.


Out in front, Hamilton was stepping up the pace and by lap 10, he led Kubica by 7.6s, while Kovalainen was on his own in third ahead of Rosberg, Heidfeld, Trulli. Behind them came the Honda of Barrichello who was now locked in a battle with Kimi who was right behind him and keen to get past.
Kubica was the first man to change tyres and take on fuel, while Massa's long hard afternoon improved by one place as he passed Nakajima in the Williams on lap 17. When Raikkonen finally disposed of Barrichello on lap 19, running on the softer tyres, he began to set personal best laps. Felipe's day took another downward turn on lap 26, when, having got his nose ahead of Coulthard, the two men collided at Turn 1, forcing the Scotsman to retire and bringing out the safety car yet again. Kimi actually thought of pitting at this point, but fortunately he realised that, according to the safety car regulations, the pit lane was not yet open.
Felipe's race ended on lap 30, as he pulled off the track to retire with an engine problem and one lap later, the race was on again as the safety car came in. Kimi charged past fellow Finn, Kovalainen but ended up having to run through the gravel trap at Turn 3, consequently slipping down the order and pitting.
Lap 44 saw the most serious incident of the race, when Glock had a heavy crash in his Toyota, bringing out the Safety Car yet again. Barrichello refuelled before the pit lane was open and also knocked over the refueller in the Honda pit. By lap 50 it was obvious that Raikkonen was in trouble from looking at his lap times and on lap 54 he came back to the pits to retire with an engine failure. On lap 56, Bourdais, making his F1 debut for Toro Rosso retired from fourth place and in the final move of the day, Kovalainen passed Alonso but the Spaniard re-took fourth place on the finish straight.

So the race ended with Hamilton taking his fifth F1 victory to be joined by Heidfeld and Rosberg on the podium. The remaining points then went to Alonso, Kovalainen, Nakajima, Bourdais and Raikkonen.

For the Scuderia this was a very poor start as the team management admitted, but on the plus side, we only have to wait one week to try again at Round 2 at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. Ferrari has often managed to overturn seemingly impossible situations at much more critical moments of the season and therefore the mood in the camp is disappointed but not downhearted.