Flying Finn ... Raikkonen holds on for dramatic Australian F1 win. Source: Rob Griffith / AP
Kimi Raikkonen went to the starting line for the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix 'pretty confident' that his Lotus team's strategy would win him the race.
Despite fears from most teams that bad graining and wear issues would hit Pirelli's new F1 rubber, Lotus planned stopping the Finn just twice during the race.
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Raikkonen pitted first on lap nine, getting off the fast-wearing supersoft compound in favour of Pirelli's medium Cinturatos.
But as his rivals all made a second stop around the 20 lap mark, the Finn crucially stayed out until lap 34 to make his second and final stop of the race.
The performance of Raikkonen's Lotus while maintaining superior tyre life raised eyebrows, but the man himself was reasonably sure their strategy would work.
"That was our plan before the race and I was pretty confident that the tyres would be okay," Raikkonen said on the podium.
"I had doubts becuase it was the first race, you don't know how the tyres will be. I didn't do any long runs through the winter.
"I thought it should be easy to do it, then I got a good start and it all went well.
"It was a pretty nice race, not so difficult."
Further emphasising his Lotus E21's superiority, Raikkonen posted the fastest lap of the race on lap 56 of 58, underlining that while he was conserving his tyres, the Finn had pace to burn.
"Fernando was catching at some point, I just wanted to make sure if the rain came, or something happened, that there was a bit more gap."
The victory could be a good omen in several ways for Raikkonen.
It is the charismatic Finn's second win in Australia, his last coming in 2007 - the year he won the championship.
The Lotus team hasn't won the first race of the season since 2006 - then known as Renault, they won the championship.
A car bearing the Lotus name hasn't won the first race of the season since 1978 - and wouldn't you know it, they won the championship.
We will soon know if Raikkonen and Lotus are favourites or flukes in one week's time, when Formula 1 heads to Sepang for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
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