Raikkonen in Ferrari
The March 18, 2007 it was the day in which Italian Formula 1 fans set the alarm clock early in the morning so as not to miss the first race of the season in Australia. In Melbourne there were actually several reasons to follow the live broadcast on TV, starting with the expected Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari debut. It was the Finn, after five years' experience in McLaren, who took on the heavy legacy of Michael Schumacher, who retired from racing the year before. In this sense, the Monza podium in 2006 is memorable, when the German himself (even before officially announcing his retirement in the post-race press conference) embraced Iceman as a passing of the baton for the following world championship.
The new McLaren line-up
Attention, however, was not only focused on Raikkonen dressed in red for the first time: right there McLaren, to replace the Finn and Pedro de la Rosa (who took over from Juan Pablo Montoya during the current season), had to entirely reform his line-up, doing so with a very interesting double choice. Beyond Fernando Alonsoreigning double world champion hired by Renault, the Woking team decided to promote a young English talent of Caribbean origins from GP2, who also ended as a winner in 2006: Lewis Hamilton. As it happens, today, after some time 17 years since that racethe future of the current seven-time world champion is linked to Ferrari, which he will join in 2025.
Iceman's domain
In that sunny Melbourne race in 2007, together with his future teammate as Heikki Kovalainen, Hamilton thus took part in his first Formula 1 GP in his career, in a race weekend which however rewarded another Finn like the aforementioned Raikkonen as the absolute protagonist. Immediately author of the pole position, the new Ferrari driver also recorded the fastest lap of the race by crossing the finish line first, thus obtaining his first of two hat trick achieved in your career.
The first challenge on the track
Alonso, starting from second position on the grid, managed at the same time to maintain the role of 'deputy' for almost the entire remainder of the race, but not without difficulty. Hamilton, 4th in qualifying, first managed to overtake Heidfeld at the start with a nice maneuver on the outside at the first corner, and then launched himself chasing his teammate. With Raikkonen out of anyone's reach, the Briton's pace allowed him to return to the track after his pit stop just ahead of Alonso. The Spaniard, reigning champion and not at all willing to finish behind a rookie, managed to regain the position after the second refueling, but was unable to overtake Hamilton on the track despite coming close to the attack. All this allowed Hamilton to still finish his first F1 race on the podium at 3rd place. That was the first sign of a rivalry between the two, which then resulted in tensions and episodes (some of which were sensational and decisive) which would also have repercussions on the fight for the title, won by Raikkonen in the last race of the season. Even today, moreover, the Finn is the last driver to have won a Drivers' World Championship at the wheel of Ferrari.
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