Australian Grand Prix. Melbourne (Albert Park) 14:15 & 16 March 2008

Race - 16 March

Just 7 cars finished the Australian Grand Prix today out of the 22 starters, 5 being eliminated on the first lap, Giancarlo Fisichella, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Anthony Davidson, Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil. Kimi Raikkonon taking advantage of this moved up from 15th to 8th., but it was Lewis Hamilton that was in charge of the race consistently pulling away from BMW's Robert Kubica. Felipe
Massa had to pit for a new nosecone during the caution period having lost control of his Ferrari and spinning exiting the first corner when challenging Heikki Kovalainen for third place. Jarno Trulli was the next retirement (+39 laps) and David Coulthard was taken out in a racing accident with Felipe Massa when the Brazilian took the inside line, only to retire a few laps afterwards, obviously had damaged his suspension (+29 Laps). Nelson Piquet (+26 laps), Takuma Sato (+ 28 laps) were the next retirements followed by Timo Glock., making a promising entry in Formula 1 in the Toyota, but
having a big moment, spinning several times down the track with just 15 laps remaining. There were many safety car incidents and Lewis Hamilton kept his cool, having had plenty of experience last year of this situation. Robert Kubica, not having lived up to yesterday´s promise, was the next victim retiring with 11 laps remaining and finally Kimi Raikkonen called it a day after two mistakes and a badly sounding engine? (+4 laps). Rubens Barichello had driven a brilliant race, but was running out of fuel and there was a safety car out! He had no alternative but to come in. The lolipop man made a mistake and a mechanic was injured and the Brazilian passed a red light! Sebastian Bourdais had been driving a brilliant race, but sadly had to retire during the last 3 laps. Fernando Alonso behind had been holding off Heikki Kovalainen who eventially managed to overtake the Spaniard, but the ex world champion was having nothing of it and retook his position on the straight. Nick Heidfeld drove his usual sensible race to take a well deserved second place with Kiko Rosberg taking third and his first career podium, two twenty three years on it for the first time. Fernando Alonso, now in better spirits at Renault must have been very pleased with his fourth place as must be the team, justifying their decision to invite him back. Heikki Kovalainen was just unlucky today, finishing fifth with Rubens Barichello a well deserved sixth and rookie Kazuki Nakajima scoring points in just his second race and confirming the promise of the Williams Toyota. Driver of the Day – Lewis Hamilton.

Heikki Kovalainen had the consolation of setting the fastest lap - 1:27.418

Qualifiying - 15 March
Lewis Hamilton (1:26.714) took pole position today having set the pace in two of the three qualifying sessions. In the third one he faced a strong challange from Robert Kubica´s (1:26.869) BMW who will line up alongside the McLaren driver. The Pole could well have taken pole position had it not been for a mistake on his fastest lap. The other McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen (1:27.079) confirming the form of yesterday was third fastest with the first Ferrari of Felipe Massa (1:27.178) fourth. Nick Heidlfeld (1:27.236) was fifth, Jarno Trulli (1:28.527) sixth, Nico Rosberg (1:28.687), David Coulthard (1:29.041), Timo Glock (1:29.593), and Sebastian Vettel mechanical problems preventing the young German from setting a time. filling the top ten places on the grid. World Champion Kimi Raikkonen will start 16th a fuel pump failure in Q1 preventing him from participating in Q2 and Q3 the Finn crawling to a standstill in the pit approach

Australian GP TV schedule (ITV)

Qualifying re-run Saturday 15 March 1320-1505 ITV1

Live race Sunday 16 March 0330-0630 ITV1

Race re-runs Sunday 16 March 1245-1430 ITV4
Sunday 16 March 1500-1800 ITV1

Highlights Monday 17 March 0015-0115 ITV1
Monday 17 March 1800-1900 ITV4

Friday Practice - 14 March

In the morning session it was the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen (1m 26.461s) that set the fastest time at Albert Park., but the Finn said that he was not happy with the way that practice had gone, the afternoon track conditions changing dramatically. Team mate Felipe Massa spun in the afternoon preventing his from using his second set of Bridgestone and finding that the medium compound was more durable than the softer alternative. These gave better grip over one lap, but grained thereafter. Lewis Hamilton (1m 26.559s) was the fastest in the second session with his new team mate at McLaren Heikki Kovalainen setting the 4th fastest time in both sessions. - Mark Webber said that his crowd-pleasing 2nd place in practice is unlikely to be repeated later in the weekend, believing that there were four or five cars that were faster than his Red Bull, fuel load preventing anyone of drawing firm conclusions. David Coulthard in the other Red Bull lost time with his gearbox problem in the morning, but was happy with the 5th fastest time in the afternoon. - Jarno Trulli (1m 28.292s) set his fastest time this afternoon despite tyre graining. Toyota’s primary problem today, which means that the team are working hard on settings to try and alleviate the problem before the weekend. Timo Glock was busy learning the track, and still has to set up his TF108 to suit his driving style. - Nico Rosberg (1m 28.352s) only did three installation laps this morning due to a gearbox problem, but still managed to set 8th fastest time this afternoon despite further problems with the differential. Kazuki Nakajima´s Williams also had a gearbox problem in the morning which which did not assist him in learning the track. - Fernando Alonso (1m 28.360s) fastest time was set this morning, the Spaniard being concerned about the stability of the Renault under braking and team mate Nelson Piquet spun in the morning session bringing out the red flag, the incident causing problems with the gearbox and so his track learning time was seriously compromised.