Australian Grand Prix: Raikkonen cruises to victory

Announcing Lotus as a genuine championship contender for the season ahead, Raikkonen took the lead for good on lap 43 of 58 in a race which had seven different leaders. The Finn had the luxury of driving conservatively in the closing laps, while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel scrambled in vain to keep up.

Raikkonen needed only two pitstops compared to three for each of the six men who followed in his wake, and he became the 15th man in F1 history to record 20 grand prix wins. “Our plan was to do two stops and, although it’s  always difficult in the first races to know when to stop and not go too early, we got it exactly right,” Raikkonen said. “We followed the plan and it worked out perfectly for us. I could save the tyres and go fast if I needed. It was one of the easiest races I have done to win and hopefully we can have many more.”

Alonso trailed Raikkonen by 6.2 seconds with 12 laps to go, but could not make up ground. Still, he was satisfied with where Ferrari stands compared to the poor early races last season. “I am extremely happy,” Alonso said. “We had a difficult start of season two years ago and last year, too, and this year is very different. We feel much more comfortable, the car is responding well and we have a good season ahead of us.”

Pole sitter and three-times reigning world champion Vettel was third in a Red Bull. He was forced to pit after just seven laps due to worn super-soft tyres and never threatened thereafter. “The first few laps were okay but then the tires were falling apart and we could not go as far as other people,” Vettel said. “We have to admit sometimes that other people are faster than us but it’s a long season so we have some good points to start with and we have no  reason to be disappointed.”

While Vettel was accentuating the positive, the race performance was a disappointing one, and the rapid tyre degradation is a headache for a team which has had precious few reliability issues over recent years. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was fourth in an encouraging performance that indicated he had carried the strong form of late 2012 into the new campaign.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth in his first race for Mercedes, having had to ditch his plans for a two-stopper and switch to three because of tyre degradation. The Mercedes race pace was underwhelming and the dominant performances of pre-season testing are already a distant memory.

Mark Webber of Red Bull was sixth. The Australian local favourite qualified second yesterday morning – qualifying was postponed from Saturday due to heavy rain – but yet again made one of his frustrating slow starts off the line, was seventh after lap one, and still has not finished on the podium in his home race in 12 attempts.

Force India’s Adrian Sutil, who twice led the race and was the man overtaken by Raikkonen for the lead, faded to seventh as he struggled on the super-soft tyres in the closing stages, and finished ahead of team-mate Paul di Resta. McLaren’s Jenson Button and Lotus’ Romain Grosjean rounded off the top ten.

Scotland’s Di Resta expressed his frustration at being forced to play the team game. With Di Resta qualifying ninth and Sutil 12th, the team operated different strategies for the duo which culminated in the Scot reeling in the German over the closing laps. But rather than being allowed to pass Sutil, Di Resta was ordered to hold station and avoid the possibility of a collision.

Di Resta said: “Seventh place should have been mine. It’s a disappointment. As I say, I should have been seventh, but you look at the whole picture from a team point of view and we came away with seventh and eighth place.”

Di Resta appreciates that, but for being held up by McLaren’s Jenson Button at one stage in the race, he probably would have had a clear shot at Sutil to claim seventh. “We were compromised by three stoppers, mainly Jenson holding me up and holding Mark [Webber] up,” added Di Resta. “Essentially that’s where I got stuck and where I lost all my track time, otherwise I would have been further up the road. But I was eighth, which is good points. It is obviously a good start to the season. There are a lot of positives to take from the race, but still things to fix for the next one in Malaysia next Sunday. That’s a good thing given the positions we finished in, and the car already looks good on this year’s tyres compared to last year.”

While Lotus was acknowledged even in pre-season testing to have a pace comparable to the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari, there was a nagging doubt whether it would have the depth of financial resources to challenge its bigger rivals throughout the season. Raikkonen is not yet eyeing the championship but is hoping more money will arrive to sustain a challenge.

“It’s not going to be as easy for us,” Raikkonen said. “We have the people and the tools to make it, but the money is the big part of the whole thing.”