[Dippy]

Originally Posted by khanak

actually kimi was the same in mclaren except for the engine failures. even in the mclaren kimi used to dominate until his engine blew up or somthing.

I agree. Kimi was always fast and I always thought he would be WC instead of Alonso. It was the Mclaren unreliability that always did him in. Even in 05' the Mclaren was the fastest car on the grid but we all know what happened then.

[normally_crazy]

Originally Posted by Dippy

Renault, well the magic has just seemed to fade away now.

Maybe they missed the Alonso magic ! If MS=Ferrari, for me Alonso=Renault. Now does anyone doubt whether the man had no ability and was only surviving on a reliable car ? Time for Alonso haters to wait and watch I guess.

[rranjith_kum]

i think mclaren did a good job
didn't expect such a outstanding performance from lewis ... very good
lets see

[MaserQ]

Kimi was calm and cool as ever. Great to see him win after a while. Looks like its going to be Kimi-Alonso with lots of Massa, Hamilton and BMW thrown in!

I have to add that the Hondas looked totally off pace.

[GTO]

Excellent season opener!!!! Some things which I found particularly interesting:

1. Raikonnen proved that - under ideal conditions (car, weather, pitstops etc.) - he is unstoppable.

2. Hamilton IMPRESSED! What a chap, and what a performance. His start was mind-blowing and not too many people keep Alonso behind for 75% of the race. Its only after the pits that he lost his second place buttttttttttttttttttt he didnt show his disappointment (if at all) on the podium. No sulking and only smiles. Hats off.

3. Amazing what the loss of a great driver can do. Look at Renault....

4. LOTs of rookies and freshers.....Though it was a race without Schumacher, I didnt really miss him. I am glad the old is making way for the new. Time for Barri and Coulthard to retire too.

5. Reliability was astounding - Hardly any retirements.

[paras211]

any one playing the mobil1 fantasy on espnstar site??

[danlalan]

Dont know if its too early to say but iam shocked my Mclarens reliability...its a vast improvement from last year..which is not a few months ago.Hope they can keep up the form for the rest of the year.

[finneyp]

Hurray! Kimi & Ferrari starts off F1 season with a Blast!

Hope Massa too can follow suit!

[Floyd de Souza]

To me it looks as though last years Michelin runners are taking some time to get to grips with the Bridgestones. Alonso made a point of the Mclaren being pretty close to the Ferrari over a single lap like qualifying but it is over the long runs that the Ferrari has a distinct advantage.

[merve_extreme]

A beautiful start to the Season for ferrari.great driving by kimi but massa was lacking in overtaking skills.

Also Hamilton looks to be WC capable material(maybe a year or 2),its going to be tough for alonso to dominate him like he did at renault and also he's Ron's dream boy.

its going to be a great championship but i'm missing Michael already.

[karthik247]

Originally Posted by merve_extreme

A beautiful start to the Season for ferrari.great driving by kimi but massa was lacking in overtaking skills.

Massa was on a strategy in which he was full of fuel and had no need to overtake at all. All he had to do is preserve his tyres for a long distance cuz he was on a 1stop strategy. But towards the end, yeah he could have tried to make a move to get the 5th place but its just the 1st race of the season and why risk it all...there are a lotta races left to go and lots of points up for grabs

[ess_a]

Originally Posted by merve_extreme

its going to be a great championship but i'm missing Michael already.

My exact sentiments...

But great drive by Kimi. I guess the bad luck of his with McLaren is now over. The unreliability of McLaren was really a let down for him in the past two years.
And yes the new rookie on the bloc, Hamilton surely looks like a future championship contender. Great new finds, first Kubica and now Hamilton.

[Mpower]

Not surprisingly, its the Ferrari car of the #2 driver that has reliablity problems whereas the #1 car runs flawlessly.
Barrichello to Massa "I toldya"

[Rocky_Balboa]

Kimi was devastating the opposition literally... i hoped for hamilton to stay at 2nd after 3rd pit stops couldnt find why he was suddenly much slower than alonso!!!

Its going to be very exciting this year and though am a Schumi fan, am not missing Schumi. :-)

[GTO]

i hoped for hamilton to stay at 2nd after 3rd pit stops couldnt find why he was suddenly much slower than alonso!!!

True, I couldnt figure out why Mac called Hamilton in first (at the second pitstop) when he had fueled second (at the first pitstop). Logically, he would have had more fuel.

Worked to Alonsos advantage. Not only did he have more laps with a lighter tank, but his pitstop was also marginally quicker.