MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (BDCi TV) — Kimi Raikkonen, the Finnish former F1 world champion, established himself as a leading contender again with a powerful performance in winning the Australian Grand Prix earlier today, the first leg of the 2013 Formula One championship.
Employing a 2-stop strategy compared with his rivals’ 3-stop one, Raikkonen leapfrogged to the front after other leaders confronted various tire issues along the way. He finished well ahead of Ferrari lead man Fernando Alonzo and last years’ champion Sebastian Vettel.
Although Raikkonen’s Lotus team received 25 points along with their driver, it was the Ferrari team of Alonzo and Brazilian Felipe Massa who took the early Contructors Cup lead with a second and fourth finish respectively.
Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber finished fifth and sixth, but it was possibly the seventh place finisher who received more attention. Adrian Sutil, a German driver for the Force India team who hadn’t started a race since 2011, held the lead for almost 10 laps in the early going, before having to pit out.
Bruno Senna, the late Aryton Senna’s nephew and former driver for Williams left a noticeable void in the Brazilian representation. It was last month when Senna announced that he was switching from Formula 1 to the LeMans series and driving for Aston Martin Racing.
Next week, Formula 1 travels to Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysia Grand Prix.