RACE START

What an opening lap in the season's first Grand Prix in Melbourne's Albert Park in Australia!

Going into Turn One, BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica - who started second on the grid - applied early pressure on McLaren's Lewis Hamilton with a slight touch and Ferrari's Felipe Massa in fourth, was the first casualty of the new "no traction-control rule" this year.

It's a ban on electronic driver aids that help you control wheels from spinning excessively at race starts and help you keep it smooth in and out of corners.

So Massa's throttle control wasn't obviously that good, as his rear wheels lost grip in the middle of the corner at Turn One, sending the car into the barriers.

He rejoined the race again. His team-mate Kimi Raikonnen on the other hand, showed he didn't need any traction control help as he made a wonderful start, driving like a world champion, overtaking several cars before moving up to an amazing eighth place from 15th - in just the opening lap.

RACE STRATEGY

FERRARI and Renault opted to start Raikkonen and Alonso with more fuel to utilise a one-stop strategy and hopefully gain ground on the front runners. This is because they qualified badly in 15th and 11th spots respectively on the grid, while Lewis Hamilton, on pole, was going to have a two-stop strategy like the rest of the grid's frontrunners.

So, instead of wasting time with too many pit stops, good drivers in good cars further down the field often take their chances with a one-stop strategy.

But after Massa's early accident, Ferrari opted to change his strategy to a one-stopper since he had to pit in to change his car's damaged nose cone.

In theory - and it almost paid off - Raikkonen could have profited from a good start and the one-stop strategy, had he not made a few crucial spins off the track.

RACE ACTION

AFTER an exciting race start, the focus was on the battle between Raikkonen and Honda's Rubens Barrichello for 7th place.

Barrichello held him off initially, but clean driving from Raikkonen eventually got him through on the inside - outbraking Barrichello.

Raikkonen's team-mate Massa also attempted a move to pass Red Bull's David Coulthard on the inside. But they collided into each other resulting in immediate retirement for Coulthard on Lap 25 and minor damages to Massa, who eventually retired.

The safety car was called out then.

Under the safety car, Hamilton was still leading, team-mate Kovalainen in second and Raikkonen in third spot. When racing resumed, Raikkonen attempted an early move on Kovalainen for second place but misjudged the braking distance and sent his car into the gravel. He rejoined in 11th place.

Raikkonen went on another charge, but made another error behind Toyota's incident-prone Timo Glock, clipping his rear wheel on the grass and spinning the car out.

Raikkonen's car had now sustained too much damage. He eventually retired with five laps to go.

During the lap where Raikkonen spun out, Glock ran wide on the exit of one of the corners and hit a small bump. The car went airborne, breaking all its suspension arms on the landing with the car eventually ending up in the barrier. He was dazed, but sustained no serious injuries.

With two laps to go in the race, Alonso and Kovalainen fought for fourth place, passing each other, but Alonso got the better of him down the straight in the end to finish fourth.

RACE CONTROVERSY

THE biggest controversy of the race was the overtaking and crash incident on Lap 25 between Massa and Coulthard. Massa attempted a brave move to pass Coulthard on the inside. Coulthard had not seen Massa on the inside, and turned his car into the corner, only to collide with Massa. In my opinion, after watching the replay several times, Coulthard was more likely to be the cause of the accident since Massa had more than half his car alongside Coulthard.

RACE SUMMARY

IT WAS an extremely exciting race with only seven out of 22 cars crossing the finishing line. A textbook drive from Hamilton kept him in command from start to finish.

In the first half of the race alone, Hamilton was pulling away from Kubica by nearly a second a lap with a string of fastest laps. But it was a disappointing weekend for Ferrari as both Raikkonen and Massa were unable to at least stay on the track till the end.

It was an excellent race for Nico Rosberg of Williams as he managed to pick up his first podium finish.

On the whole, I thought the Australian GP was a race that entertained. I'm looking forward now to Sepang, Malaysia, next weekend! Join me next Sunday in The New Paper.

Our Formula One Fan-atic LUKE NETTO is a self-confessed petrolhead and Formula One nut who often heads to the Sepang circuit in Malaysia over the weekends to race cars. This season, he aims to give a fan's easy-to-understand perspective of the highly technical sport. Follow The New Paper's F1 Fan-atic series every race weekend

This article was first published in The New Paper on Mar 17, 2008.