Raikkonen triumphs at Australian GP

Melbourne (AFP): Kimi Raikkonen upstaged the established order to claim a resounding victory for Lotus in the season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne on Tuesday. The taciturn Finn roared off from seventh on the starting grid to take a forward position and employed only a two-stop strategy to take the race from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Red Bull world champion Sebastian Vettel. For Raikkonen, 33, who won the 2007 world championship with Ferrari before taking two years out to drive in rallying, it was his 20th GP triumph. It was the Finn's second triumph in the 2007 Australian race on his way to winning the world drivers' title. Raikkonen had the luxury of an easy run in the closing laps to the finish line and beat Alonso by 12.4secs with Vettel a further 9.8secs away in third. Alonso's Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa of Brazil was fourth with Britain's Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes fifth and Australian Mark Webber in a Red Bull sixth. Raikkonen won the race despite only coming into the pits for two tyre changes compared to three employed by his rivals. It was a great day for legendary Lotus, who took over the Renault team last year when Raikkonen won the Abu Dhabi GP near the end of the season. "I believe my car is quite good, it's been feeling good all weekend and when we did the longer run it felt good," Raikkonen said.