By Andrew Benson
Japanese interest rates on hold ...
F1: Prost backs Hamilton for title ... Lewis Hamilton steered clear of the chaos at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix to get his title campaign off to the best possible start.
The Englishman dominated from the start in his McLaren to beat Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber and Nico Rosberg's Williams.
World champion Kimi Raikkonen threw away a chance to take a sensational win with a mistake while challenging Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen.
Kovalainen would have been second but for bad luck with the safety car.
It came out for the third time in a dramatic afternoon at exactly the wrong time for the Finn following a high-speed crash involving Timo Glock's Toyota on lap 44.
Kovalainen had to pit for fuel and tyres while the safety car was out, and dropped to the back of the pack.
He recovered to finish fifth, losing out in an exciting battle with Fernando Alonso's Renault in the last two laps.
Kovalainen passed the double world champion spectacularly towards the end of the penultimate lap, only to lose the place as they crossed the line for the start of the last lap when the McLaren appeared to stutter on the pit straight.
Kovalainen revealed later that he had accidentally hit the pit lane speed limiter button while removing an oil-smeared tear-off from his visor.
Heidfeld and Rosberg both drove unobtrusively excellent to take the final two podium positions.
Heidfeld held a watching brief in the early laps and stayed out of trouble to benefit from Kovalainen's late problem.
Rosberg's third place was the best result of his career in his third full season.
Rubens Barrichello was sixth for a more-competitive-than-expected Honda.
But he may lose that because the stewards are investigating claims he passed the red light at the end of the pit lane while rejoining following a dramatic final pit stop in which he was waved away with the fuel hose still attached.
Kazuki Nakajima's Williams, which was the final finisher in seventh.
Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais was classified eighth on his debut, despite retiring with engine failure while running fourth ahead of Alonso and Kovalainen with three laps to go.
The race was littered with incident, but Hamilton steered clear of it all on the way to a largely untroubled fifth victory of his career.
The 23-year-old made a perfect start, stayed calm during the first deployment of the safety car following a series of incidents on the first lap, and built an advantage over Robert Kubica's second-placed BMW Sauber in the early laps.
He appeared to be cruising to a comfortable win until the second safety car came out to raise concern over Raikkonen's progress.
The Finn fought his way up the field from 16th on the grid.
The Ferrari leaped up to eighth on the first lap, but was then held up behind Rubens Barrichello's Honda for 19 laps.
But once he had past the Brazilian, Raikkonen became a major factor for a while in what appeared to be the fastest car in the race.
His Ferrari had been fuelled heavily at the start, so he moved up the field as those in front of him made their first pit stops.
Raikkonen was up to third, behind the two McLarens, when the safety car was deployed following a collision between the Ferrari of Felipe Massa and David Coulthard's Red Bull on lap 26.
The safety car put him right behind the McLarens on the track, and a serious contender for victory.
It stayed out for four laps while Coulthard's damaged car was moved from a dangerous position.
Raikkonen, light on fuel, was much faster than Kovalainen as the race resumed, but he braked too late as he tried to pass the McLaren into turn three and speared off into the gravel.
He rejoined the track, and made his single stop for fuel at the end of the lap, putting him to the back of the field.
He was seventh when he retired after several laps of his car sounding sick.
It was a disastrous race for world champions Ferrari, with neither car scoring points. Massa retired shortly after his collision with Coulthard with an engine failure.
Provisional results from Australian Grand Prix:
1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 58 laps one hour 34 minutes 50.616 seconds
2. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +5.478 secs
3. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota +8.163
4. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault +17.181
5. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes +18.014
6. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda +52.453
7. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1 lap behind
8R Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 55 laps completed
9R Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 53 laps
R Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 47 laps
R Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 43 laps
R Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 32 laps
R Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault 30 laps
R Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 29 laps
R David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 25 laps
R Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 19 laps
R Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 8 laps
R Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 0 laps
R Jenson Button (GB) Honda 0 lap
R Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 0 lap
R Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 laps
R Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 0 laps
Key: R = retired
Fastest lap: Kovalainen one minute 27.418 seconds, lap 43.
(BBC)
<< Back