Ferrari's new recruit Kimi Raikkonen scored a resounding debut victory in the 58 lap Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne today, 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. The Finn secured the Ferrari's seventh win in this race, thus bringing the team's total number of victories to 193 in 742 Grand Prix participations. This was also the tenth time from 106 starts that Kimi has been the first past the chequered flag. 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.

Jean Todt: "That was an exciting Grand Prix! We started with our drivers at opposite ends of the grid, with Kimi on pole and Felipe in last place because of an electrical problem in the gearbox management that had hampered his qualifying yesterday.
 

"Both of them put on a great performance. Kimi maintained his first place after the start and then did a very good job of managing the race, while Felipe staged a great climb through the field to take him up to sixth place. A new chapter in Ferrari's history has got off to a very good start. The chassis-engine package proved to be competitive, the team worked with dedicated professionalism and the drivers were impeccable. This all means that we can look forward to the rest of the championship with prudent optimism, even if we have seen there is some very strong and well prepared opposition and some very talented young drivers. We have not yet reached the desired level of reliability and we have to do a lot of work on this as well as on improving our performance. I was very happy to get two telephone calls, the first from Michael as I was going up to the podium, which I handed to Kimi and the other from Luca di Montezemolo who was jumping for joy as if this was our first win in a decade. And indeed that is the feeling for us all!"

Kimi Raikkonen: "A fantastic victory! It is great to be winning again with my new team whom I want to thank for giving me a great car. The race was not as easy as it might have looked from the outside, partly because shortly after the start, the radio failed so it was almost impossible to talk to the pit wall. Fortunately we had prepared well for the race and I knew what I had to do, but there were a few difficult moments. I was not flat out all the time, adapting my pace to the way the race was going. It was nice to hear my national anthem again on the podium as it had been a while. I have to say that last year it seemed to be the Italian one I was hearing usually. This is a great way to start the championship. We know we have a very competitive package but we still have to work to make it even better and above all, reliable."

Felipe Massa: "After what happened in qualifying yesterday it would have been difficult to do any better than this sixth place. I was able to run at a good pace even with a full fuel load facing a race that would be one long climb through the field. The F2007 was very competitive and so I am optimistic about the next few races. But I cannot forget the disappointment for the failure in qualifying, which meant I had to start from the back of the grid. If not for that, I would definitely have been fighting for the win. But I am happy with the overall result in terms of what it means for the team and I am happy for Kimi who won on his debut with Ferrari."

Luca Baldisserri: "This is a very important result for the whole team, as it is the result of the hard work from everyone in the Gestione Sportiva throughout the winter. We took on a significant reorganisation and seeing its efforts rewarded like this is further motivation for pushing on even further. We picked up thirteen points thanks to extraordinary performances from our two drivers. Starting from pole, Kimi was able to control the race right from the start, while Felipe, hampered by yesterday's gearbox failure in qualifying, started last and put on a really impressive climb up the order to finish sixth. The F2007s were competitive and the only problem was a radio malfunction on Kimi's car, which happened soon after the start. Now we must carry on working to improve still further our competitiveness and to get the overall reliability that is still eluding us."

Race Details: Kimi Raikkonen: 1st 1:25.28.770 58 laps chassis 261; Felipe Massa: 6th +66.805 58 laps chassis 260; Weather: air temperature 21 °C, track temperature 33/34 °C, dry track, clear skies