Flying Finn conquers Australia

-- Contributed by Debraj B

Finally! After four and a half months of extensive testing and development (and restless wait for us), the teams were all ready at Albert Park for the season starting grand prix on a sunny Sunday afternoon. It’s not only in India but in Australia as well, that the Metrological department seems to be predicting wrong. Both the qualifiers and the race were predicted to be wet. But other than the Friday’s practice session, it was all a bright and sunny affair. And there was the rise of a new sun in Albert Park as well - Kimi Raikkonnen. After a disastrous 2006 season, he has started with a bang. It’s not easy to get into a new team and replace an all time great; but Kimi did it – and did it with style as well.

Let’s get on to the team wise analysis.

1) Scuderia Ferrari: At the moment this team looks like a class apart. They are definitely a touch above all other cars, maybe except Mclaren. They could have definitely had the perfect weekend too, with a 1-2 finish. But it was not to be; Massa faced a huge setback when he had a gearbox problem in Q2 of Saturday’s qualifier. That placed him at number 16 on the grid. But Ferrari made a smart move by replacing his engine and fuelling the car fully to go down another 6 places. So, Massa started from back of the grid. But nothing could go wrong for Kimi, as he started from the pole and kept clocking consecutive laps at a good half a second faster than the rest of the pack. Eventually he took the top spot of the podium by 7 seconds.

2) Mclaren-Mercedes: It’s very clear now that during this season if anyone can challenge Ferrari, it has to be this team. With the arrival of Fernando, this team looks much more competitive. And what a fantastic debut from Lewis Hamilton. For me, he was the man of the day. In the very first corner, the way he took the 3^rd place from Fernando was stunning. To be frank, I have not seen a better debut since Mika and neither have I seen Fernando be so slow at the starting line. But Fernando again proved that he does deliver when it matters by taking the 2^nd place back from Hamilton during the 2^nd pit stop. And after that, with soft tyres Fernando was just flying…

3) BMW-Sauber: This is the most surprising package of the season. We all knew that they are very fast. But no one thought they could be this fast – fast enough to overtake the Mclarens. But that is exactly what Heidfeld did in the very first corner. But as expected, they could not keep it up throughout the race distance. For me the disappointing moment was to see Kubica retire from 4^th place. But at the end Nick got them a wonderful 4^th place finish. Well done BMW. All you need to do is make the car a bit more reliable.

4) Renault: Many people thought that Renault would struggle this season, especially at the season opener. And they did struggle – but only in patches. Though, after a good 2 years, we all could witness some inspired driving by Fisichella. Looks like getting out of the shadow of Fernando is working for him. The way he defended his place from the much faster F2007 of Massa was incredible. But the new kid, Heikki did disappoint. Being in Renault for more than 2 years did not seem to be very helpful as he spun and skidded out of track on a number of occasions. But if you ask me, Fernando’s departure has left a huge vacuum which will be very tough to fill in.

5) Williams-Toyota: Looks like another story of comeback. After a very forgettable season last year, they have started the season with a very impressive note. The package looked much more balanced and the Toyota engines definitely looked much more consistent than last year’s Cosworth. Nico Rosberg was mighty impressive with a 7^th place finish. Here again, the customer’s team has beaten the engine manufacturers. Alex Wurz was having a strong race until he had to retire for no mistake of his.

6) Toyota: It was a disastrous testing schedule for Toyota. But the race looked much better; looks like Toyotas were sandbagging. Ralf finished at last points position, while Trulli just out of it. But still a lot of work ahead…

7) Honda: Rather disappointing start to the season, after such promising second half last year. Throughout the race they looked off pace and the handling of the car was no better than an airport trolley. It took an outstanding drive by Rubens to secure the 11^th place finish that they did manage. Button’s drive-through penalty did not help the cause.

8) Red Bull: Adrian Newey’s arrival does not seem to doing any magic so far. This team is really struggling with the Bridgestone tyres. Webber tried his best but could not manage a place above 13^th. And the match’s worst move came from Coulthard when he flew across Alex Wurz from nowhere. Looks like time has come for the old Scot to say goodbye to racing.

9) Super Aguri: This is another surprise package of the season opener. They almost humbled their engine supplier. Mr. Chaos, Takuma Sato, had a wonderful race. Anthony Davidson could have done better if his car would not have stalled in the first lap.

10) Spyker and Torro Rosso: Nothing much to write about them. They did what they do best by making sure the last row is also full.

Overall not a very exciting race… To be very honest, a very boring one actually...

But as it is still only the season opener and we have both the front runners in close proximity, we can definitely hope for a cracking season.

Lastly my wishes to a few people…

- Very well done Kimi. You actually deserved this long back itself.

- Excellent start Lewis. Hope to see you on the podium many more times.

Well, that’s all from Albert Park. The next race is on 8^th of April in Sepang. So until then, it’s goodbye…