Hamilton wins amid chaos in Australia

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton avoided mayhem around him to open the Formula One season with a resounding pole-to-flag victory in a crash-strewn Australian Grand Prix yesterday.

The 23-year-old Briton, now with a phenomenal five wins from just 18 races, finished 5.4 seconds ahead of Germany's Nick Heidfeld in a BMW Sauber.

Germany's Nico Rosberg celebrated his first Formula One podium with third place for Williams in a race with only six of the 22 starters still running at the finish and neither Ferrari reaching the chequered flag.

While the champions contemplated their worst start to a season since 1992, Hamilton was ecstatic.

"Coming into a new season, turning over a new leaf, we really wanted to get off on the right foot," said Hamilton, who missed out on the title last year by a single point to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

"It's quite different to my first win in Montreal, just because that was really not expected," he added.

"This win perhaps feels better than any because I feel I've improved in many areas."

The safety car was deployed three times as cars crashed and collided at a circuit with limited run-off areas.

Through it all, and despite the safety car interventions eroding his lead, Hamilton lapped in a league of his own.

Raikkonen retired five laps from the end with an engine problem after a torrid afternoon at the wheel, with the Finn also skidding off on lap 31 after overtaking McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen for second place and rejoining at the back.

Raikkonen grabbed a consolation point, however, after Honda's Rubens Barrichello, who had finished sixth, was excluded for exiting the pit lane when the lights were still red. The Brazilian also sent a mechanic flying when he accelerated away before the fuel hose was detached.

Fernando Alonso, Hamilton's feuding team-mate last year, was fourth on his return to the Renault team with whom he won his two titles.

Kovalainen was fifth, his hopes of anchoring a one-two on his McLaren debut dashed by a late pitstop, and set the fastest lap of the race. He might have been fourth had he not hit the pit lane speed limiter button by accident when tearing off a visor strip after overtaking Alonso.

Kazuki Nakajima moved up to sixth for Williams, despite the Japanese tangling with Red Bull's Mark Webber at the start and again with the BMW Sauber of Poland's Robert Kubica nine laps from the end.

Stewards gave the rookie a 10-place penalty on the starting grid for the Malaysian GP next weekend.

Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, the first Frenchman to start a season since 2004, joined the elite group of drivers to score on their debuts with seventh place despite his Toro Rosso's engine blowing two laps from the end.

First corner carnage brought out the safety car and led to the retirement of five drivers including Webber, Australia's only participant.

Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa, who started in fourth place, was forced to pit for a new front wing after spinning into the wall.

The safety car was deployed for a second time just before the halfway point when Massa and Red Bull's David Coulthard collided at the end of the main straight. The Scot flew off and blamed the Ferrari driver.

Germany's Timo Glock brought out the safety car for the third and final time on lap 44 when his Toyota hit a kerb and flew into the air before plunging into the barriers.