Opening Australian Grand Prix 2008

Lewis Hamilton kicked off 2008 with a win at the opening Australian grand prix.

The British driver labelled it one of the easiest wins of his career and said he could drive faster.

Hamilton won the Melbourne race in his McLaren by more than five seconds from Nick Heidfield's BMW Sauber and the Williams of Nico Rosberg. Only seven cars finished the accident-riddled race in 37C heat yet Hamilton emerged feeling fresh and already looking ahead to next weekend's Malaysian grand prix.

Ferrari endured a nightmare race from start to finish, as elementary driver errors from both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, reliability problems and a collision meant it left Melbourne with one solitary point.

The Italian squad’s travails gave two other teams a rare look-in on the podium.

Hamilton, on pole, led from the start. "I guess it was a bit like my first win in Montreal last year when we had four safety cars," he said. "It was pretty similar to that in that it was difficult to heat the tyres and the brakes up. It was a good challenge but we've all done a great job. It's probably the best race I've had so far - in terms of managing tyres, controlling my pace and confidence, and being comfortable in the car.

He added: "It's an emotional feeling to win the first grand prix of the season, especially with all the winter testing, the whole build-up, not really knowing whether you had the pace of everyone else, whether you would be able to win, whether the cars could be reliable."