The 2007 ING Australian GP
LIVE from Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia
As the red lights began to illuminate I prepared my car for the start. All five went ofn and then off and off I went. Heading into the first turn I had not lost or gained any places and was right on the tail of my team-mate Jarno Trulli.
As the race went on, Giancarlo Fisichella, who had been overtaken by Nick Heidfeld, had pulled away considerably from Jarno Trulli and myself. Both Jarno and myself were putting in similar laptimes. Behind me, about two seconds away was the Honda of Jenson Button who had made the most of a personal battle between Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen, overtaking them both in the process. Defending champion and race leader Fernando Alonso had already created some gap between himself and Felipe Massa.
As we approached the first round of pitstops, I was still right behind Jarno. However I had to go in first which allowed him to pull away. I did a 8.3 second stop before heading back into the track at tenth place.
Rosberg and Trulli were eight and seventh respectively but still had to pit. Fisichella had done his first pitstop and was about nine seconds ahead of me in ninth place.
So with a fairly clean track in front me, I had a good oppurtunity to put in a few quick laps in order to try and get ahead of Trulli when he makes his first stop. It would be difficult as he was on a heavier load and would probably have a shorter stop.
Shortly, Trulli made his scheduled pitstop. I was informed of this through the radio and pushed hard. As I took the long straight next to the pits, I could see Jarno on his way out. It was going to be very close but I had the advantage of being on the track. Jarno was about to rejoin the track, and I just managed to go ahead of him. The strategy had worked for me, but only just.
Next few laps saw Jarno do the chasing and once again both of us continued to clock identical laptimes. Jarno came close on two occassions but was unable to overtake. Both of us, while being competitive, were careful of not ending both our races, which would be a complete disaster.
In the meantime, Alonso was still leading the race comfortably. But behind him Raikkonen had managed to overtake his team-mate Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton was also not far behind the two Ferraris in fourth position.
Behind myself and Jarno was the Jenson Button in the Honda, Nico Rosberg in the Williams, Mark Webber in the Red Bull and Heikki Kovalainen in the Renault, all not that far away. The next few laps saw Webber overtake Rosberg, much to the delight of the home fans.
The time had come for the second round of stops and once again I went in first though Trulli pitted exactly a lap later. At the end of both our pitstops, I was still in front and had infact gained almost half a second.
But Jarno started to close in the final part of the race and was posting quicker laptimes. But a mistake in one of the turnings saw him lose some time and once again there was about a second's gap between me and him.
We came to the final lap of the race and Jarno had once again managed to close in on me. I had relaxed a bit in the last few laps and Jarno took advantage of that. I pressed hard and tried to hold on to eight place. Ultimately I managed to do just that as I crossed the chequered flag to score a championship point on debut.
Fernando Alonso had started his Mclaren career with a victory. Raikkonen came second followed by Massa, Hamilton, Kubica, Heidfeld, Fisichella and myself.
I was ecstatic with the result and to have scored a point on my Formula 1 debut was fantastic. Lewis, also in his first race, had finished fourth which was an even better achievement.
As I drove back to the pits and got out of my car I was congratulated by my pit crew, technical staff as well as Jarno, who had got there before me.
I also did a quick interview with NDTV who approached me as soon as I got out of the garage.
Siddharth, how does it feel to have finished in the top eight in your first race?
Me: Its unbelievable. I'm really happy with my performance and the result. I had to work hard throughout the race and was pushed to the limit by my more experienced team-mate Jarno Trulli. But in the end I managed to hold on and its just feels great.
Would this have created any sort of tensions between yourself and Jarno Trulli?
Me: Absolutely not. He just congratulated me a few moments back. We knew we could be racing each other today, and had actually discussed it yesterday after qualifying. Jarno has a lot of experience and its an honour for me to be driving beside him. There is a very friendly competition between us and today was a good example of exactly that.
Anyways here is the final result:
1. Fernando Alonso (Mclaren Mercedes)
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
3. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren Mercedes)
5. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
6. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
7. Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault)
8. Siddharth Kanjilal (Toyota F1)
9. Jarno Trulli (Toyota F1)
10. Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)
11. Jenson Button (Honda)
12. Nico Rosberg (Williams F1)
13. Heikki Kovalainen (Renault)
14. Alexander Wurz (Williams F1)
15. David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing)
16. Scott Speed (Toro Rosso)
17. Antony Davidson (Super Aguri)
18. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Torro Rosso)
19. Takuma Sato (Super Aguri)
Out. Christijan Albers (Spyker F1)
Out. Rubens Barrichello (Honda)
Out. Adrian Sutil (Spyker F1)
Driver's championship:
1. Fernando Alonso (Mclaren Mercedes) - 10 pts
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) - 8
3. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) - 6
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren Mercedes) - 5
5. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) - 4
6. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) - 3
7. Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) - 2
8. Siddharth Kanjilal (Toyota F1) - 1
Constructor's championship:
1. Mclaren Mercedes - 15 pts
2. Ferrari - 14
3. BMW Sauber - 7
4. Renault - 2
5. Toyota F1 - 1
Keep up the good work mate
lol just kidding. Nice fighting from Toyota drivers..Hopefully both get points in race.. Gud luck sid 
