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Hamilton wins after mistake-free race

Sun 16th, March 2008

Melbourne, Australia (Sports Network) - Lewis Hamilton won Formula One's 2008 season opener at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia. The No.22 McLaren-Mercedes crossed the finish line 5.478 seconds ahead of BMW's Nick Heidfeld.

The victory was Hamilton's first of the season and fifth of his F1 career and was a drive without incident in a race with many incidents.

"We got away to a really good start and I just paced myself the rest of the way." said Hamilton. "It was a good challenge but we did a great job...The car was phenomenal."

The second-year Hamilton continued to build on what he did in his rookie season, winning the pole for the first race of 2008.

He got off to a good start with Robert Kubica right on Hamilton's tail, but behind them five cars had problems.

Felipe Massa damaged his front nose after being involved in the incident and out of the race were: Sebastien Vettel, hometown favorite Mark Webber, Anthony Davidson and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Meanwhile, the defending champion, Kimi Raikkonen, jumped from 15th to eighth after the first lap.

"People were too aggressive in the first corner," said a disappointed Fisichella.

Hamilton set fastest laps on his fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh circuits to build the lead to 5.3 seconds over the surprisingly strong BMW. Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen was 7.3 seconds behind.

After a dozen laps, Hamilton was almost out of sight for Kubica as the field readied for the first of two expected pit stops.

Kubica was the first of the leaders to pit and a quick 8.5-second stop kept him near the top of the charts. But the bad news was that he obviously had less fuel than Hamilton and still couldn't keep pace with the McLaren driver.

Hamilton stopped two laps later and after a nine-second stop would still be the leader after all the drivers had cycled through their first stop.

After 25 laps it was Hamilton, Kovalainen and Raikkonen, although the Ferrari had yet to make a stop. Kubica was a distant fourth. On the same lap, Massa was trying to overtake veteran David Coulthard and they came together. Massa continued, but Coulthard was done for the day.

The incident was a break for Raikkonen, who could now pit under the safety car. But for some reason, Ferrari chose not to pit. On the lap 30 restart Raikkonen tried to get around Kovalainen, overcooked the corner and slid into the gravel stop. He managed to keep the F2008 going and got out of the gravel, but fell way behind the two McLarens.

Raikkonen finally pitted and took enough fuel to reach the checkered flag, but he returned 15 seconds behind Timo Glock for 11th place. Hamilton was four seconds ahead of Kovalainen with Nick Heidfeld in third. After two safety car situations, Hamilton once again built his lead. It was 5.5 seconds on lap 37.

Meanwhile, the best racing on the track was between F1 rookie Sebastien Bourdais, Kubica and Fernando Alonso for sixth through eighth place.

Hamilton made his final stop on lap 43, just as we saw Raikkonen spin out for the second time. Kovalainen and Heidfeld inherited the lead, although they still had final stops to make.

Heidfeld pitted on the next lap, no problems and a seven-second stop. But with 14 laps to go, Glock lost it in the fast turn 12 corner and spread debris everywhere to bring out the safety car one more time.

With the safety on the track, Rubens Barrichello made a "rookie" mistake and pitted before he was allowed. The result is a drive-thru penalty and officials correctly applied the ruling ending his chance to win the opener.

Kovalainen made his stop with 12 laps to go, giving Hamilton a clear run to the checkered flag.

It was Hamilton, Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg with 10 laps to go and just seven cars still on the track after more incidents. The defending World Champion, Raikkonen, pulled an ill-sounding car off the road with four laps to go and Ferrari was shut out of the points.

One lap later Bourdais was in line for five championship points, when the engine gave a puff of smoke and he was done after a great first run. He was credited with an eighth-place finish and still scored his first championship point.

Hamilton made no errors, there were no mechanical problems and he drove to his first win of 2008. It was his 13th podium in just 18 F1 starts.

Rosberg, Alonso, Kovalainen, Barrichello, Kazuki Nakajima and Bourdais completed the points-scoring positions.

The second race of the season is set for the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia on Sunday, March 23rd.

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