Australian Grand Prix
Melbourne, 16th March 2008
1st of 18 World Championship races
Summary
Brilliant start to the season for the BMW Sauber F1 Team:
Heidfeld finishes second in Melbourne, Kubica is unlucky
Melbourne (AUS). It was a fantastic season opener for the BMW Sauber F1 Team. At the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday, Nick Heidfeld (Mönchengladbach) finished second to bring home the team’s fifth podium place in their short career. Only British driver Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren-Mercedes proved faster. Third place was claimed by Nico Rosberg (Wiesbaden) in a Williams-Toyota. Heidfeld had previously been runner-up in Canada last year. His team-mate Robert Kubica was not so lucky: having started from second place on the grid, the Pole was in fifth position when he was shunted out of the race on the restart following a safety car phase.
In all, a turbulent race with three safety car periods and numerous retirements saw just seven out of 22 drivers complete the race. Crossing the line in fourth place was Spaniard Fernando Alonso in a Renault, followed by Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) in the second McLaren, Rubens Barrichello (Brazil/Honda) and Kazuki Nakajima (Japan/Williams-Toyota). Sébastien Bourdais (France/Toro Rosso) and Kimi Räikkönen (Finland/Ferrari) failed to finish but were nevertheless classified and also benefited from Barrichello’s subsequent disqualification. In the overall standings McLaren-Mercedes leads with 14 points ahead of Williams-Toyota (9) and the BMW Sauber F1 Team (8). Renault (5) is fourth, followed by Toro Rosso (2) and Ferrari (1).
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