Already a first victory for Raikkonen and Ferrari After waiting all winter long, the 2007 Formula One season went underway on Saturday night, at 11:00 p.m. E.T., from Melbourne, Australia. Racing fans in Quebec sure had no problem staying up late to follow the action.
Of course, there was a lot to get excited about, as 2007 is marked by several rule changes, driver transfers and other new developments. The first race of the season was held under terrific weather conditions and there were no real surprises on the first line of the starting grid. Ferrari's new lead driver, Kimi Raikkonen (formerly from McLaren) was in pole position. Next to him was the defending champion and Raikkonen's replacement at McLaren, Fernando Alonso.Perhaps the biggest surprise on the grid was his 22-year-old teammate, Lewis Hamilton, Ron Dennis' protégé. He started on the second line in his very first F1 race... although his mind must have been in seventh heaven.
As for Felipe Massa, Ferrari's second driver, he had to start dead last because his team decided to change the engine after some troubles during the qualifying session. On the flip side, we were able to see how much ground Massa could gain back throughout the race. Here's what he said after the event:"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."The young Hamilton opened quite a few eyes by beating Alonso at the start. Both McLaren drivers stayed together for most of the competition. The rookie kept racing ahead of his veteran teammate and world champion, whose passing tactics always failed. In fact, Hamilton had to go back to the pits for Alonso to overtake him and finish in second place.
During the post-race press conference, Alonso made a comment that said a lot about his state of mind:''What a great way to kick off the season and my career at McLaren. I'd rather have won, but Kimi was slightly faster than us. We scored a lot of points, and I'm very pleased about that.''