What can we conclude after the first Grand Prix weekend?
After the first Grand Prix of the season, f1technical will give you an overview of this weekend. The biggest surprise of the weekend came from the Super Aguri F1 Team, especially during the qualifying session, and the excellent performance of Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari
The Scuderia Ferrari can look back at the Australian weekend with mixed feelings. Ferrari was on top during the second and third free practice session and of course Kimi Raikkonen took pole position during yesterday's qualifying session. Felipe Massa was less fortunate as he had a gearbox problem and qualified 16th. Only hours before the race started at the Albert Park Circuit, the Italian team decided to replace Massa's engine, which resulted in a 10-place grid penalty for the Brazilian. Felipe drove an incredible race and managed to finish 6th. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen was able to silver his pole position as he took his first victory for the red team.
So far, the Scuderia Ferrari performs as expected after their domination during winter testing. Raikkonen takes the lead in the Drivers' Championship, but his victory was not enough to give Ferrari the first place in the Constructors' Championship.
McLaren
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team has had a very fruit-full weekend. The team leads in the Constructors' Championship as Fernando Alonso finished 2nd and team mate Hamilton 3rd during the race today. The team has had a problem-free weekend, but they don't go home with a first victory. One thing is for sure: Fernando Alonso will have to keep focussed all season long as rookie Lewis Hamilton has displayed his speed.
Hamilton has had the perfect weekend as he has put down very competitive lap times during the three free practice sessions and the qualifying session and managed to put the cherry on the pie by taking the third place in the race. It has been since Jacques Villeneuve's debut in 1996 that a rookie has made it to the podium in his first race.
McLaren eyes a lot stronger than last season. They already showed their speed during pre-season testing but now they have also displayed their reliability. McLaren will surely be fighting for the championships this year.
Renault
Renault seems to be missing the speed that they had the last two seasons. The team, who won at Melbourne the last two years, had to settle with the four points that Fisichella brought in by finishing 5th. Heikki Kovalainen, who has been named as one of the upcoming top talents, had a very difficult race. After a good start, the Finn made one error after another. Kovalainen finished 10th. Giancarlo Fisichella was able to hold off Felipe Massa in the final 2 laps of the race and took 5th place.
It's clear that Renault is lacking race pace. In the field of reliability, the French team can be satisfied with the first race weekend, but it's clear that they still have a lot of work for the next Grand Prix at Malaysia.
BMW Sauber F1
The BMW Sauber F1 Team amazed everybody with their speed during winter testing, but the German team proved in Melbourne that this wasn't occasional. Yesterday, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica amazed everybody with an extraordinary performance during the qualifying session. Heidfeld qualified 3rd and team mate Kubica 5th.
During the race, Robert Kubica was again putting down a good performance, but suffered a problem with his gearbox and had to retire the race. Nick Heidfeld had a great start where he passed Alonso, but than dropped a couple of places as he came in early for his first pitstop. The German finished 4th. As already said in the F1Technical 2007 season preview, Heidfeld is a man to keep an eye on and the BMW Sauber is an important outsider for the championship.
Honda
The Honda Racing F1 Team had a difficult weekend. It's clear that the team isn't at the level they were at the end of the 2006 season. The team will have to make use of the three-week break in the F1 calendar to develop their car and improve speed.
Williams
There hasn't been said much about the AT&T Williams Team this weekend, but the team has scored its first 2007 points. Nico Rosberg finished the race in 7th place and collected 2 championship points. Team mate Wurz was less fortunate as his race ended early due to a collision with David Coulthard.
It's clear that the team still has a lot of work to do, but they eye better than last season.
Toyota
Toyota performed well during the qualifying session yesterday as both drivers made it to the top 10. Still, the team only collected one point as Ralf Schumacher finished 8th. Just like during winter testing, the Japanese team struggles with their reliability.
Red Bull
Red Bull, that expected so much from their first Adrian Newey-designed car still has a lot of work to do before getting where they want to be. The team especially lacked race pace.
Toro Rosso
That Toro Rosso wouldn't be with the top teams this weekend, everybody expected. The STR2 didn't have much track time during winter testing and this weekend, we learned that the team has serious reliability problems.
Super Aguri
The Super Aguri F1 Team surprised everybody this weekend. During the third practice session, Anthony Davidson clocked the 4th time. Also during the qualifying session the team performed well. Takuma Sato qualified 10th and Anthony Davidson 11th.
The team waited until Wednesday to unveil their SA07. The whole customer cars discussion started all over again and Spyker will take the Japanese team to court. This certainly won't be the last episode of this soap.
SpykerF1
During their launch, the Spyker F1 Team explained that they are not expecting great results during the first part of the season...and they were right. Christijan Albers has been outpaced by his rookie team mate Adrian Sutil all weekend long and that is the most surprising element we can enumerate for Spyker this weekend. The team has a lot of work to do and hopefully for them they will have more success when the first Spyker car by the hand of Gascoyne will be unveiled in August.
