2007 Australian Grand Prix

September 2020 F1 Australian 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix Australia Albert Lake Park Street Circuit in Melbourne, Australia.svg 18 March 2007 1 17 2007 Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix Temporary street circuit Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia 3.295 5.303 58 191.118 307.574 Clear with temperatures reaching up to 21 C FWeather info for the 2007 Australian Grand Prix at Weather Underground 105,000Rookie in spotlight with Ferrari ace http://www.theage.com.au/news/motorsport/rookie-in-spotlight-with-ferrari-ace/2007/03/18/1174152881757.html theage.com.au The Age Company Ltd. 19 March 2007 13 April 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080523104346/http://www.theage.com.au/news/motorsport/rookie-in-spotlight-with-ferrari-ace/2007/03/18/1174152881757.html 23 May 2008 live Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari Finland 1:26.072 Kimi Räikkönen Finland Ferrari 1:25.235 41 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari Finland Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes Spain Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes United Kingdom AUS The 2007 Australian Grand Prix, officially the 2007 Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix,http://www.formula1.com/races/in_detail/770/circuit_diagram.html Australia Formula1.com https://web.archive.org/web/20071030222253/http://www.formula1.com/races/in_detail/770/circuit_diagram.html 20 December 2020 30 October 2007 was a Formula One motor race held on 18 March 2007 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. It was the first race of the 2007 Formula One World Championship. The 58 lap race was won by Kimi Räikkönen for Ferrari after starting from pole position. Fernando Alonso finished second in his McLaren car, with teammate Lewis Hamilton third on his Grand Prix debut. Räikkönen started the race alongside Alonso, but in the start Alonso was passed by BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld and Hamilton, who started third and fourth. Räikkönen controlled the race from the front of the field, with Alonso regaining second place after overtaking Hamilton during the second round of pit stops. The Grand Prix was also the first since the 2000 Malaysian Grand Prix where all Formula One entrants utilized Bridgestone tyres as Michelin quit the sport after the 2006 season. Background Friday drivers Constructor Nat Driver BMW Sauber GER Sebastian Vettel Williams-Toyota JPN Kazuki Nakajima Practice The morning session of Friday practice, run in wet weather, saw McLaren's Fernando Alonso take the fastest lap of the session, over a second faster than the next fastest time set by Ferrari's Felipe Massa.Friday Practice One Results http://www.formula1.com/race/result/770/28.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20070319182745/http://formula1.com/race/result/770/28.html 19 March 2007 17 March 2007 Official Formula 1 Website The rain dried up for the afternoon session which saw the two Ferraris of Massa and Kimi Räikkönen first and second respectively with the fastest non-Ferrari driver, Lewis Hamilton, just under a tenth of a second behind Räikkönen. The rest of the top six were from different teams with fourth place going to Giancarlo Fisichella of Renault. Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber was fifth and Alexander Wurz's Williams completed the top six.Friday Practice Two Results http://www.formula1.com/race/result/770/29.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20070319181801/http://formula1.com/race/result/770/29.html 19 March 2007 17 March 2007 Official Formula 1 Website "This was a positive start to the weekend" Massa commented, "but of course what counts is tomorrow's qualifying and most of all, Sunday's race."Friday practice - selected driver quotes http://www.formula1.com/race/news/5788/770.html Official Formula One website 16 March 2007 16 March 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070319182720/http://www.formula1.com/race/news/5788/770.html 19 March 2007 live The morning session of Saturday brought with it sunny skies, but also a light drizzle at the start of the session. This forced teams who went out early to use their wet tires, but what little water was on the track dried up quickly enough to have no effect on any racer on dry tires. Räikkönen was the consistent pace-setter and topped the chart with a 1:26.064. Fisichella pushed his Renault to second with a time of 1:26.454. Rookie Lewis Hamilton came third over his teammate, the double and defending World Champion Fernando Alonso who came in at seventh. The slowest team of 2006, Super Aguri, got into the top ten with fourth and tenth for Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato, respectively. Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld completed the top six.Raikkonen sees red in final practice http://www.formula1.com/race/news/5793/770.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20070325210127/http://formula1.com/race/news/5793/770.html 25 March 2007 17 March 2007 Official Formula 1 WebsiteSaturday Practice Results http://www.formula1.com/race/result/770/23.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20070319182614/http://www.formula1.com/race/result/770/23.html 19 March 2007 17 March 2007 Official Formula 1 Website Qualifying Räikkönen followed up his pace-setting morning practice performance by topping the times in Part One of the Qualifying session. Mark Webber set the early benchmark with a 1:27.799, but Lewis Hamilton knocked one and one tenths off that, with a lap of 1:26.674 – his personal fastest lap of the meeting, before Räikkönen took control. Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard found themselves knocked out of qualifying, along with the Toro Rossos and the Spykers. Fernando Alonso took command of Part Two with a lap of 1:25.326 to put him at the top of the leaderboard, with teammate Hamilton closely behind in third. BMW's Nick Heidfeld split the McLarens with second. However, Felipe Massa was knocked out of qualifying after an error in turns nine and ten brought his Ferrari to a halt, meaning he started the race from 16th on the grid, which would later become 22nd on the grid due to an engine change. Super Aguri's Takuma Sato made it through to part three. But, along with Massa: Anthony Davidson; both the Williams cars of Rosberg and Wurz; Renault's rookie Heikki Kovalainen and Honda's Jenson Button all went out. Alonso again set the benchmark in Part Three with a time of 1:27.050. But he was soon knocked off top spot by Räikkönen, who went a second quicker with a lap of 1:26.072. Räikkönen kept pole position, with Alonso second, but Nick Heidfeld was third after Lewis Hamilton had an untidy middle sector which saw him end up in fourth. Robert Kubica was fifth, with Giancarlo Fisichella sixth. Red Bull's Mark Webber was seventh with the Toyotas of Ralf Schumacher and Trulli eighth and ninth. Super Aguri's Sato rounded out the top ten. Qualifying classification Pos. Qualifying position No. Car number Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid Final grid position16Finland Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:26.6441:25.6441:26.072121Spain Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Mercedes1:26.6971:25.3261:26.493239Germany Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber1:26.8951:25.3581:26.556342United Kingdom Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1:26.6741:25.5771:26.7554510Poland Robert KubicaBMW Sauber1:26.6961:25.8821:27.347563Italy Giancarlo FisichellaRenault1:27.2701:25.9441:27.6346715Australia Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1:26.9781:26.6231:27.9347812Italy Jarno TrulliToyota1:27.0141:26.6881:28.4048911Germany Ralf SchumacherToyota1:27.3281:26.7391:28.69291022Japan Takuma SatoSuper Aguri-Honda1:27.3651:26.7581:28.871101123United Kingdom Anthony DavidsonSuper Aguri-Honda1:26.9861:26.909111216Germany Nico RosbergWilliams-Toyota1:27.5961:26.91412134Finland Heikki KovalainenRenault1:27.5291:26.96413147United Kingdom Jenson ButtonHonda1:27.5401:27.264141517Austria Alexander WurzWilliams-Toyota1:27.4791:27.39315165Brazil Felipe MassaFerrari1:26.712No time1 1222 2178Brazil Rubens BarrichelloHonda1:27.679161819USA Scott SpeedToro Rosso-Ferrari1:28.305171914United Kingdom David CoulthardRed Bull-Renault1:28.579182018Italy Vitantonio LiuzziToro Rosso-Ferrari1:29.267192120Germany Adrian SutilSpyker-Ferrari1:29.339202221Netherlands Christijan AlbersSpyker-Ferrari1:31.93221Source:2007 FORMULA 1 ING Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2007/770/6380/ Official Formula One website 27 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20131031135547/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2007/770/6380/ 31 October 2013 Notes 1 1 – Felipe Massa failed to set a time in Q2 due to a gearbox problem. 2 2 – Felipe Massa was given a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change. Race Race day saw a crowd of 105,000 people attend the opening round of the 2007 season, and the first race of the "post-Schumacher" era.Over 300,000 flock to Albert Park http://www.formula1.com/race/news/5817/770.html Official Formula One website 19 March 2007 23 March 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070322184935/http://formula1.com/race/news/5817/770.html 22 March 2007 live The only changes before the race were that Felipe Massa started last after an engine-change,Late engine change for Massa http://www.formula1.com/race/news/5802/770.html Official Formula One website 18 March 2007 23 March 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070320201933/http://www.formula1.com/race/news/5802/770.html 20 March 2007 live and Christijan Albers opted to start from the pitlane. At the start, Räikkönen got clear off the line. Alonso was passed by Heidfeld on the left and was stuck behind Räikkönen to his front. Hamilton was also briefly stuck behind the leading three before taking the outside line coming into the first corner to take third place; Alonso dropped to fourth position. McLaren team principal Ron Dennis would later accuse BMW of "showboating".Dennis accuses BMW of 'showboating' http://www.dailyf1news.com/dailyf1news/nieuw/artikel.php?nwsID=2868 19 March 2007 4 April 2007 19 October 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20071019154632/http://www.dailyf1news.com/dailyf1news/nieuw/artikel.php?nwsID=2868 dead Anthony Davidson stalled on the grid and after getting underway hit Adrian Sutil, but managed to keep going. By lap three, Räikkönen was starting to pull away from Heidfeld and by lap five the Finn had a two and a half second lead on the German. Meanwhile, debutant Lewis Hamilton was still holding onto third place from teammate Alonso. Christijan Albers in the Spyker became the first driver to retire in the new season, missing his braking point at the Sports Center corner and hitting the tire barrier. The first to make a pit stop was second place Heidfeld on lap fifteen; four laps later Kimi Räikkönen pitted and came out in fourth behind Hamilton, now leading on his Grand Prix debut; Alonso and Robert Kubica. Alonso was the first of the two McLarens to pit, suggesting that Hamilton was on a heavier fuel load than his Spanish teammate. The Briton's McLaren pitted a lap later and rejoined behind Räikkönen, who had now reclaimed his lead, but ahead of Heidfeld, who had now dropped to fifth position, and Alonso, despite being held up by the lone Spyker of Adrian Sutil, who received a drive through penalty for the infringement. Honda's Jenson Button also received a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Toro Rosso's Scott Speed became the race's second retirement after two of his tires deflated and he crashed at the Clark chicane on lap 31. Six laps later at the same chicane saw Nico Rosberg overtake Ralf Schumacher for seventh place and soon pulled away from the Toyota. On the same lap, Kubica became the third retirement of the race after problems with his gearbox, which was the part of the car the Polish driver had been most worried about during the pre-season. At the front, meanwhile, Räikkönen was increasing his lead over Hamilton, his lead now over 18 seconds. thumb|Heikki Kovalainen had a disappointing first race for Renault, shown here leading Nico Rosberg during the race Heikki Kovalainen was having, in comparison with Hamilton, a disappointing first race: spinning at the Jones chicane on his 40th lap, which led to him losing a place to Felipe Massa, and running wide on several occasions during the early part of the race. Renault team chief Flavio Briatore described the Finn's debut as "rubbish".Kovalainen criticised by Briatore http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6463649.stm BBC Sport 18 March 2007 23 March 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070320204248/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6463649.stm 20 March 2007 live Teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was having an uneventful race, as he was not involved in any racing incidents. Back at the front, Räikkönen made his final scheduled pit stop of the race and rejoined in third, behind the two McLarens of Hamilton, now leading the race for the second time, and Alonso. Unlike the first set of stops, it was Hamilton who would be the first of the two McLarens to pit, allowing Alonso to lead the race for the first time. Alonso pitted a lap later and this time rejoined ahead of his rookie teammate, while Räikkönen took his lead back. On lap 49, David Coulthard's attempt to pass Alexander Wurz ended with Coulthard's car vaulting over the Williams, narrowly missing the Austrian driver's head. Both drivers escaped unharmed.Räikkönen wins opening GP https://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsport/raikkonen-wins-opening-gp-20070318-gdppb3.html#:~:text=While%20Webber%20won%27t%20be%20satisfied%20with%20his%20result%2C%20at%20least%20he%20did%20beat%20Red%20Bull%20teammate%20David%20Coulthard%20who%20failed%20to%20finish%20after%20crashing%20out%20on%20lap%2049. 18 March 2007 25 June 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20070509082458/http://www.smh.com.au/news/motorsport/raikkonen-wins-opening-gp/2007/03/18/1174152869761.html 9 May 2007 live Despite a small water leak towards the end, it was Räikkönen who won the race, 7.2 seconds from Alonso and over eighteen seconds from Hamilton, who became the first driver to finish on the podium on their debut since Jacques Villeneuve at the 1996 Australian Grand Prix; it was also the first time a driver had won on their first race for Ferrari since Nigel Mansell in 1989 and also the first race in World Championship history where all three podium finishers were making their debut for their team, disregarding 1950 where all drivers made their World Championship debuts. Post race there was some criticism of Bridgestone because the rules mandated that the softer tire compound should be "visibly distinguishable" while the car is on track. The tiny white dot on the outer side of the tires proved inadequate.2007-04-20 Bridgestone announces tyre specifications https://www.f1technical.net/news/5491 2024-06-02 www.f1technical.net en-gb For the next race at Sepang they would go on to paint the "second from outside" groove with white paint. Race classification Pos. Position No. Car number Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 58 1:25:28.770 1 10 2 1 Spain Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 58 +7.242 2 8 3 2 UK Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 58 +18.595 4 6 4 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 58 +38.763 3 5 5 3 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 58 +1:06.469 6 4 6 5 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 58 +1:06.805 22 3 7 16 Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 57 +1 Lap 12 2 8 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota 57 +1 Lap 9 1 9 12 Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 57 +1 Lap 8 10 4 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Renault 57 +1 Lap 13 11 8 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 57 +1 Lap 16 12 22 Japan Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 57 +1 Lap 10 13 15 Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 57 +1 Lap 7 14 18 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 57 +1 Lap 19 15 7 UK Jenson Button Honda 57 +1 Lap 14 16 23 UK Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 56 +2 Laps 11 17 20 Germany Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 56 +2 Laps 20 Ret Retired 17 Austria Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 48 Collision 15 Ret Retired 14 UK David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 48 Collision 18 Ret Retired 10 Poland Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 36 Gearbox 5 Ret Retired 19 USA Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 28 Puncture 17 Ret Retired 21 Netherlands Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari 10 Accident PL3 3Source:2007 FORMULA 1 ING Australian Grand Prix - Race http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2007/770/ Official Formula One website 27 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150117125312/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2007/770/ 17 January 2015 Notes 3 3 – Christijan Albers started the race from the pitlane. Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Position Driver Points 1 FIN Kimi Räikkönen 10 2 ESP Fernando Alonso 8 3 GBR Lewis Hamilton 6 4 GER Nick Heidfeld 5 5 ITA Giancarlo Fisichella 4Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/2007/australie/championnat.aspx Australia 2007 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 7 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Position Constructor Points 1 GBR McLaren-Mercedes 14 2 ITA Ferrari 13 3 GER BMW Sauber 5 4 FRA Renault 4 5 GBR Williams-Toyota 2Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. See also 2007 Australian Grand Prix F3 Support Race References External links Kimi Räikkönen will start from pole of 2007 Australian GP Kimi Räikkönen wins 2007 Australian Grand Prix Australian Grand Prix results (fia.com) Results from The Official Formula 1 Website Australian Grand Prix 2007 race review Australian Grand Prix 2007 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix 2006 Australian Grand Prix 2008 Australian Grand Prix 37 50 59 S 144 58 06 E source:kolossus-nowiki title Australian Grand Prix Category:Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix Australian Grand Prix Category:Motorsport at Albert Park