On 18 March 2007, the post-Schumacher era began, as he was replaced within the bosom of the Scuderia by Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn had a memorable first outing in red, as he was totally dominant in qualifying, lapping almost half a second faster than the next man up, Fernando Alonso in the McLaren.
In qualifying, the downside for the Prancing Horse was a gearbox failure on Felipe Massa’s F2007, which meant he failed to set a time, so that the Ferraris bookended the grid, with the Brazilian at the back.
Kimi was never threatened during the race, managing to control his rivals and proving his superiority by setting a fastest race lap, over a second quicker than all the rest. His Ferrari debut was sealed with a hat trick, taking pole position the race win and fastest lap all on the same weekend. Felipe staged a great climb up the order to end up sixth, behind the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella.
— see video above —
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