Lewis Hamilton has won the opening race in the 2008 Formula One World Championship with a steady victory in Melbourne. It was a commanding win from last year's championship runner-up, on a day that arch-rivals Ferrari will want to forget...

Nick Heidfeld drove a strong race to second, with team-mate Kubica looking strong on a light fuel load until Williams driver Nakajima drove into him under the safety car. Doh! The Japanese driver gets a 10-place start penalty in the next race for his error.

Nico Rosberg was understandably chuffed with third for Williams - his first podium finish.

Fernando Alonso had an epic battle with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen in the closing stages, with Heikki looking all set to take second behind Lewis - handing McLaren a perfect 1-2 - but for a safety car period just before the Finn's final pit stop that dropped him to the back.

Heikki fought back and battled with Alonso for fourth, briefly overtaking the Renault driver on the penultimate lap. But Heikki's McLaren mysteriously stuttered on the start/finish straight, handing the position back to Alonso.

Torro Rosso's newbie Sebastien Bourdais finished seventh - but it would've been fourth on his F1 debut after a smart single-stop strategy. Sadly for the Frenchman, his car conked out with three laps to go.

Nine cars retired after accidents in an incident-strewn race. Glock, making his debut for Toyota, ran wide and launched his car over an access road in a nasty smash, while Button, Davidson, Vettel, Fisichella and local fave Webber all crashed out on the first lap.

After an appalling Grand Prix full of driver errors and mechanical problems, Ferrari sporting director Luca Baldisserri said: "There's not much to say about a disastrous start to the season."

Both red cars eventually retired with engine problems, but neither driver looked settled. Massa collided with Coulthard on the 25th lap having already oversteered into the wall on the first lap, while Kimi dropped it twice while rooting out overtaking manoeuvres.

Despite retiring five laps form the end, Kimi ended up scoring a point when Barrichello was disqualified for leaving the pitlane under red lights. Rookie error.

But the day was all about Hamilton. He simply looked a class apart from the opposition.

Melbourne Grand Prix 2008 result

1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 58 laps 1hr 34 minutes 50.616secs
2 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +5.478 secs
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota +8.163
4 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault +17.181
5 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes +18.014
6 (Disqualified) Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda +52.453
6 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1 lap behind
7 (Retired) Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 55 laps completed
8 (Retired) Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 53 laps