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17th
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Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen scored the 20th win of his career in today's thrilling Australian Grand Prix from Fernando Alonso and a ‘disappointed' Sebastian Vettel.
The 2007 world champion capitalised on his fast starting E21 and used a two-stop strategy to overhaul Ferrari's three stopping Fernando Alonso to win his second Grand Prix for Enstone based team. On a side note, it was Lotus' first victory in a season opener since the 1970s, and Raikkonen's second victory in Melbourne since he drove for Ferrari in his championship year.
The main surprise of the race was the lack of pace shown by both Red Bulls. Despite both cars locking out the front row in qualifying, Sebastian Vettel finished 22 seconds behind Raikkonen in third, and Mark Webber sixth after yet another poor getaway.
In the process, both fast starting Ferraris and Hamilton's Mercedes jumped Webber's bogged down car, with Massa leading his team mate and hustling Vettel's Red Bull for the lead in the opening stages of the race.
The leaders made their first round of pitstops early on due to the sharp degradation of the super soft Pirelli, but it was the kindness of Raikkonen's Lotus on its tyres and a two-stop strategy that pushed it into contention for the win.
Whilst Vettel and the Ferraris pitted, the Finn remained out on track until lap 34, taking advantage of his car's handling characteristics, which allowed him to work the two-stop strategy to his favour.
By the time Alonso had emerged from his third and final stop, the extra laps that Raikkonen had put in whilst his rivals pitted netted him a 7.7 second advantage over the Ferrari driver. Despite Alonso's best efforts on new tyres where for a short time it seemed he would carve the Finn's advantage, Raikkonen managed to stabilize the gap and cross the line to claim one of his ‘easiest victories yet' by 12.4 seconds.
Felipe Massa finished fourth behind Vettel after a strong race and was followed by Hamilton. The Force Indias of Sutil and di Resta finished seventh and eighth after the German returnee put in a sprited performance that saw him make a reverse strategy to the leaders work, and lead a large portion of the race only for tyre wear to see him drop back in the later stages.
Button rounded off a difficult day for McLaren in ninth and Grosjean rounded out the top-10 after a quiet race ahead of Sergio Perez.
Jules Bianchi once again stamped his authority as the best of the backmarkers in the Marussia by finishing 15th. The young Frenchman was the only backmarker to finish on the same lap as the leaders ahead of his compatriot Charles Pic, team-mate Chilton and the other Caterham of Giedo van der Garde.
Race results* - Australian Grand Prix (Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne)
1 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 58 laps in 1.30'03"225
2 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - 12"451
3 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 22"346
4 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 33"577
5 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 45"561
6 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 46"800
7 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'05"068
8 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'08"449
9 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'21"630
10 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'22"579
11 - Sergio Perez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'23"267
12 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'23"857
13 - Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1 lap
14 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1 lap
15 - Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1 lap
16 - Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 2 laps
17 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 2 laps
18 - Giedo Van der Garde (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 2 laps
Fastest lap of the race: 1'29"274 by Kimi Räikkönen
*Unofficial
Retirements
Lap 1 - Nico Hulkenberg
Lap 25 - Pastor Maldonado
Lap 26 - Nico Rosberg
Lap 40 - Daniel Ricciardo
Drivers' championship
1.Raikkonen 25; 2.Alonso 18; 3.Vettel 15; 4.Massa 12; 5.Hamilton 10; 6.Webber 8; 7.Sutil 6; 8.Di Resta 4; 9.Button 2; 10.Grosjean 1.
Constructors' championship
1.Ferrari 30; 2.Lotus-Renault 26; 3.Red Bull-Renault 23; 4.Mercedes, Force India-Mercedes 10; 6.McLaren-Mercedes 2.
The 2007 world champion capitalised on his fast starting E21 and used a two-stop strategy to overhaul Ferrari's three stopping Fernando Alonso to win his second Grand Prix for Enstone based team. On a side note, it was Lotus' first victory in a season opener since the 1970s, and Raikkonen's second victory in Melbourne since he drove for Ferrari in his championship year.
 |
| The start of the 2013 F1 season (Photo: WRi2) |
The main surprise of the race was the lack of pace shown by both Red Bulls. Despite both cars locking out the front row in qualifying, Sebastian Vettel finished 22 seconds behind Raikkonen in third, and Mark Webber sixth after yet another poor getaway.
In the process, both fast starting Ferraris and Hamilton's Mercedes jumped Webber's bogged down car, with Massa leading his team mate and hustling Vettel's Red Bull for the lead in the opening stages of the race.
 |
| Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB9 (Photo: WRi2) |
The leaders made their first round of pitstops early on due to the sharp degradation of the super soft Pirelli, but it was the kindness of Raikkonen's Lotus on its tyres and a two-stop strategy that pushed it into contention for the win.
Whilst Vettel and the Ferraris pitted, the Finn remained out on track until lap 34, taking advantage of his car's handling characteristics, which allowed him to work the two-stop strategy to his favour.
By the time Alonso had emerged from his third and final stop, the extra laps that Raikkonen had put in whilst his rivals pitted netted him a 7.7 second advantage over the Ferrari driver. Despite Alonso's best efforts on new tyres where for a short time it seemed he would carve the Finn's advantage, Raikkonen managed to stabilize the gap and cross the line to claim one of his ‘easiest victories yet' by 12.4 seconds.
 |
| Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F138 (Photo: WRi2) |
Felipe Massa finished fourth behind Vettel after a strong race and was followed by Hamilton. The Force Indias of Sutil and di Resta finished seventh and eighth after the German returnee put in a sprited performance that saw him make a reverse strategy to the leaders work, and lead a large portion of the race only for tyre wear to see him drop back in the later stages.
Button rounded off a difficult day for McLaren in ninth and Grosjean rounded out the top-10 after a quiet race ahead of Sergio Perez.
Jules Bianchi once again stamped his authority as the best of the backmarkers in the Marussia by finishing 15th. The young Frenchman was the only backmarker to finish on the same lap as the leaders ahead of his compatriot Charles Pic, team-mate Chilton and the other Caterham of Giedo van der Garde.
 |
| The top 3 finishers (Photo: WRi2) |
Race results* - Australian Grand Prix (Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne)
1 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 58 laps in 1.30'03"225
2 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - 12"451
3 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 22"346
4 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 33"577
5 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 45"561
6 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 46"800
7 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'05"068
8 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'08"449
9 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'21"630
10 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'22"579
11 - Sergio Perez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'23"267
12 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'23"857
13 - Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1 lap
14 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1 lap
15 - Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1 lap
16 - Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 2 laps
17 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 2 laps
18 - Giedo Van der Garde (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 2 laps
Fastest lap of the race: 1'29"274 by Kimi Räikkönen
*Unofficial
Retirements
Lap 1 - Nico Hulkenberg
Lap 25 - Pastor Maldonado
Lap 26 - Nico Rosberg
Lap 40 - Daniel Ricciardo
Drivers' championship
1.Raikkonen 25; 2.Alonso 18; 3.Vettel 15; 4.Massa 12; 5.Hamilton 10; 6.Webber 8; 7.Sutil 6; 8.Di Resta 4; 9.Button 2; 10.Grosjean 1.
Constructors' championship
1.Ferrari 30; 2.Lotus-Renault 26; 3.Red Bull-Renault 23; 4.Mercedes, Force India-Mercedes 10; 6.McLaren-Mercedes 2.