Formula One: Raikkonen Calls the Shots

Kimi Raikkonen gave Ferrari a smooth transition to the post-Michael Schumacher era yesterday when he scored an incisive victory in the Australian grand prix, marking out the 27-year-old Finn as clear favourite for the 2007 world championship.

As he celebrated on the podium, Jean Todt, the Ferrari chief executive and team principal, handed him a mobile phone. The caller was the seven-times world champion who retired at the end of last season. "I think it was Michael, but the line was pretty bad and I couldn't hear anything," said Raikkonen with a sly grin.

Yet in many ways the Finn's somewhat predictable success - his sole slip was running wide up the kerb at the tricky right-hand turn three on the sun-drenched Albert Park circuit - was dramatically shaded by the flawless drive from Britain's Lewis Hamilton, who finished third behind his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso on his grand prix debut.

Starting from pole position, Raikkonen edged cleanly into the lead in the opening sprint of the new season, his Ferrari F2007 displaying a performance edge over the pursuing McLaren-Mercedes MP4-22s which Alonso and Hamilton had qualified second and fourth.

"It is great to be winning again with my new team whom I want to thank for giving me a great car," said Raikkonen. "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 knew what we had to do, but there were a few difficult moments. I was not flat out the whole way, adapting my pace to the way the race was going."

It was later ascertained that the Ferrari had developed a very slight water leak during the race, but this caused no problem. However, he was hampered by the failure of his pit-to-car radio, having to rely for race information on old-fashioned pit boards held up by his mechanics. He completed the opening lap 1.4sec ahead of Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber, with Hamilton dodging through to third place ahead of Alonso after the jostling at the first corner.

The fast-starting Heidfeld was running on a light fuel load which would require him to make his first stop only 14 laps into the 58-lap race, eight laps before Alonso brought the first of the McLarens in to refuel for the first time. In the opinion of Ron Dennis, the McLaren team principal, this spell boxed in behind the BMW Sauber cost Alonso and Hamilton any chance they might have had to challenge Raikkonen for the lead.

"Our race was seriously compromised by the Heidfeld strategy, which we just didn't understand," said Dennis. "It smacked of showboating in the opening part of the race. We were boxed in and lost contact with Kimi, after which we had to take a realistic approach as we weren't going to close that gap."

Dennis was full of praise for Hamilton's performance in his maiden formula one race. "Both he and Fernando are highly motivational drivers who are a pleasure to work with," he said. "I don't think anybody could not be impressed with Lewis. About an hour and a half before the race I could see the pressure was getting to him and he was a little nervous, but his steely resolve powered him through.

"When he gets into the car he switches into a very focused and disciplined mindset. Take the first corner: nine times out of 10 drivers who are squeezed like that keep their feet full on the throttle. It takes intelligence to back out of it and go around the other side.

"But for Lewis, what a dream weekend. I had more arrogance at every step of my career than he has now. I don't know where he finds the ability to motivate himself and have self-belief without it turning into arrogance. He's so balanced, so on the ground."

Raikkonen made his first refuelling stop in 9.7sec at the end of lap 19, allowing Hamilton to take the lead with Alonso second. On lap 22 Alonso made a 9.3sec stop and went back into the race third behind Hamilton and Raikkonen. On the next lap Hamilton made his stop in 8.7sec and resumed second ahead of his team-mate.

On lap 42 Raikkonen made his second stop, allowing Hamilton through into the lead, but the rookie was held up by Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri Honda as he came into the pits for his own second stop [8.2sec] at the end of lap 43. Alonso stayed out for another two laps before making his second stop in 6.5sec and accelerated back into the race in second ahead of the young British driver to finish 7sec behind Raikkonen and 11 ahead of Hamilton.

Heidfeld finished fourth ahead of the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella, which in turn just held off Felipe Massa's Ferrari. Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) completed the points scorers in seventh and eighth places.