Raikkonen wins season opening Australian Grand Prix

The starting grid was all too familiar, with Red Bull's defending champion Sebastian Vettel and team mate Mark Webber leading the pack, while Lewis Hamilton and his team mate Nico Rosberg were separated by the Ferrari duo and Kimi Raikkonen starting seventh.

None would have thought that at the end of the 58 laps around the Melbourne circuit, the 'Ice man' would produce a stunning drive - full of speed and skill to claim victory.

The man who speaks on the track, optimised his team's two stop strategy while his nearest competitors were racing on three stop strategies.

Webber's start problems returned as he dropped back to seventh place, while Alonso passed Hamilton out of turn three to take third.

Once Raikkonen cleared Hamilton around the outside of turn 13 on lap, he started to catch the leading trio.

Thanks to the quickly degrading tyres, the pit lane was bursting with activity with Button first to come in to swap his super softs for mediums. Ferrari decided to bring Alonso in a lap earlier than Vettel while the call by Lotus to leave Raikkonen for two laps longer proved to be a critical strategy ploy.

Bringing his talents to life, the experienced 33-year old nursed his car to the podium leaving Alonso and Vettel to carry out a three-stop race. Alonso did his best to challenge his predecessor, but the cocktail of Raikkonen's skill and the 2013 Lotus proved to be a deadly recipe. Raikkonen even managed to put in the fastest lap despite his tyres being at the point of disintegration.

While Hamilton's debut with Mercedes ended at a respectable fifth, his team mate was forced to retire on lap 27 with an electrical problem. His former team of McLaren had a weekend to forget as well - scoring only a single point.

At the end of the race, Raikkonen leads the Drivers Championships with 25 points while Ferrari leads the Constructors Championships at 30 points as the F1 circus heads to Malaysia this weekend.