Formula One news
Hamilton wins action-packed Australian Grand Prix
16 March 2008 / Results / PhotosLewis Hamilton kept his head cool in an action-packed Australian Grand Prix to win a race in which only seven cars took the chequered flag. Nick Heidfeld finished second for BMW while Nico Rosberg confirmed Williams' pre-season pace taking third place and his maiden F1 podium.
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| Massa spins in opening lap |
Hamilton and Kubica made electric starts, dicing for the lead into turn one ahead of Kovalainen and Massa, but then it began to unfold: Massa lost control of his Ferrari, smacking into tyre barriers while at the back of the field Vettel and Fisichella tangled and both ended up in the gravel, prompting the safety car to be deployed.
The safety car came in at the end of lap two with Hamilton leading Kubica, Kovalainen, Rosberg, Heidfeld, Trulli, Barrichello, Raikkonen, Coulthard and Alonso.
Davidson retired soon after as his front suspension failed at turn three. Meanwhile Hamilton began to extend his lead over the rest of the field and by lap 10, when Sutil retired in the pits, Hamilton had a lead of over five seconds to Kubica.
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| Kubica was competitive |
Kubica was the first to pit on lap 16 having dropped 14seconds behind Hamilton while on track Raikkonen was all over Barrichello's rear wing as they diced for seventh place. Felipe Massa had more success in the other Ferrari as he tried to recover from his first lap smash, nailing Nakajima down the inside of turn one for fourteenth.
Leader Hamilton pitted on lap 18 having built up a lead of over 15 seconds over team mate Kovalainen. Meanwhile Raikkonen had another go at Barrichello down the inside of turn three, and made the move stick to take sixth and continue his charge back from his qualifying misery.
Jarno Trulli's promising weekend came to an early end on lap 20 when he retired in the pits. The following lap Heidfeld and Rosberg pitted from fourth and fifth, and on lap 22 Kovalainen made his first pit stop as a McLaren driver, rejoining the race just ahead of the flying Kimi Raikkonen.
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| Safety car is out again |
There was more drama on lap 26 as Massa tagged the rear right tyre of Coulthard trying to pass down the inside, only to send the Red Bull flying over the kerbs and smashing into the gravel. Massa managed to continue but Coulthard's afternoon was over and the safety car deployed for the second time to help clean up the debris.
The race resumed on lap 30, but for Ferrari it was just about to go very wrong. Raikkonen ran off at turn three, going too deep while trying to pass Kovalainen down the inside and rejoining at the back of the field. Meanwhile Felipe Massa ground to a halt and retired in the final sector in the sister Ferrari. At that point Sato and Piquet also pulled off track in unrelated incidents to retire - cutting the field to just twelve cars still in action.
Things settled down then as Raikkonen set about making up the time he lost and Fernando Alonso got stuck behind Kubica in eighth. Lewis Hamilton continued to lead team mate Kovalainen and BMW's Nick Heidfeld.
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| Kimi spins again |
Raikkonen made his second mistake of the afternoon on lap 42, touching the grass while lining up Timo Glock for a pass and spinning his Ferrari. He recovered just as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg pitted from first and fourth respectively.
Lapp 44 and the safety car was deployed for the third time after Timo Glock ran wide at turn twelve before flying through the air as his Toyota was launched by the gravel and spinning all the way down to turn 13.
The safety car stayed out for four laps with Kovalainen and Alonso making their final stops on lap 47. Kubica and Nakajima filed into the pits right away, the BMW to retire and the Williams for a new front wing. Meanwhile on track Alonso was on a charge and overtook Kovalainen and Raikkonen to climb to fifth.
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In the final few laps Raikkonen retired with a sick Ferrari and Sebastien Bourdais retired just three laps from the flag while running fourth in the Toro Rosso. But the race was not done yet - Kovalainen passed Alonso in the final corners of the penultimate lap only to be repassed by the Spaniard on the pit straight.
Lewis Hamilton took his fifth career win ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg. Fernando Alonso brought his Renault home in fourth ahead of Heikki Kovalainen. Barrichello was classified sixth, Nakajima seventh and Bourdais got one point consolation, being officially classified eighth.
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