Lewis Hamilton got his Formula One world championship attempt off to a perfect start with an easy win in the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne.

Hamilton dominated from pole position, with only seven cars finishing the 58-lap race. He won 5.4 seconds ahead of BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld.

Nico Rosberg finished third for the Williams team.

It was a disastrous day for Ferrari with both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa failing to finish the race, which was marred by some spectacular crashes.

Hamilton told the McLaren team on his radio, “Fantastic job. The car was incredible. Thanks very much.”

The British McLaren driver made a clean start from pole position. First corner problems also saw Ferraris’ Felipe Massa head for the pits as he lost out in a battle for third with Heikki Kovalainen.

Four other cars, including Jenson Button’s Honda and Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguri, were forced to retire.

But it was Hamilton’s day, and the season gets off to a familiar start — at least if last season’s opening races are anything to go by.

“It was a super race and I dominated it from the beginning,” Hamilton said later. “I was able to drive at a steady pace without feeling any pressure. The three safety car periods meant there was never a time to relax and the whole situation was a bit like Canada last year when I claimed my first victory. We constantly had to change our strategy and the strategists were on the ball throughout. The car was fantastic to drive and we must keep on pushing because Ferrari are a great team and will do a good job.”

The first three were :

1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 58 laps one hour 34 minutes 50.616 seconds
2. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +5.478 secs
3. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota +8.163

Following its disastrous Formula One season last year, in which it was fined a staggering £50m for allegedly possessing technical secrets belonging to Ferrari, McLaren has now posted a loss of £2.3m for 2006. This is down from £14.3m profit the year bafore.

The McLaren Group is is part-owned by Mercedes, with a 40pc stake, and Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, with £30pc. Ron Dennis owns part of the rest with the Saudi-run TAG Group.

The Group was hit on all fronts. Sales of its £300,000 flagship car, the SLR, produced with Mercedes, fell from 649 in 2005 to 261 in 2006.

The ban on tobacco advertising in F1 reduced its turnover to £206.6m, and Lewis Hamilton’s failure to secure the world title meant further losses. Without the rookie’s efforts though, Fernando Alonso may well have won the title for the team.

Even a great performance by Lewis counted against them in 2007. Truly the stars were not on their side. They will be praying for better fortune this year.

After the racist taunts he suffered in Barcelona 10 days ago, Lewis Hamilton returned to Spain for more testing. In Jerez he drove before a well-mannered crowd of around 1000 — and clocked the fastest time.

With rival team Ferrari absent, the McLaren driver held off test driver Pedro de la Rosa by 0.2 seconds and BMW’s Robert Kubica by half a second.

Hamilton said, “It’s great to get back out on the track in Spain. We have another two days here and there’s a lot we need to get done.”

De la Rosa commented on the Barcelona furore, “The Spanish fans are educated and peaceful people. So much has been said about this issue. The important thing for me is that at this test it can be demonstrated that all drivers are treated with respect, which has always been the case.”

After one of the most fractious seasons in 2007, let’s hope his sentiments carry forward into 2008.

Leading the charge of a bright crop of twenty-something Formula One drivers, Lewis Hamilton named Nico Rosberg as a possible team-mate next season, replacing Fernando Alonso at McLaren.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg

However, Rosberg insists he is happy at Williams, where his father Keke won the 1982 World Title. “I’m not going anywhere, at least for another season, and hopefully for longer than that,” he said.

“What Lewis achieved last season has got all us younger drivers thinking. If he can do it, then so can we. It’s a big positive for me. I certainly compare to him. In karting we beat each other all the time and I know I can compete with Lewis.One year he finished up as European champion with me as his team-mate in second and Robert Kubica third. And we all know that Heikki Kovalainen is a top driver, too.

“Of course, it looks like Lewis has a better car than the rest of us at the moment. Next season will still see the McLarens and Ferraris dominate, but I’m hoping the rest of the next tier of teams can push them harder, and that Williams can compete consistently with BMWSauber. We should have beaten Renault in the constructors’ championship last season, so our plan in 2008 is to be up there challenging for third place.

“I’m really excited because I believe F1 will come to be dominated by my generation very soon. I was the first of us to arrive in the sport, and Lewis is now ahead of the rest of us, but I believe there will be a great rivalry in the next few years involving Lewis, myself, Robert and Heikki, with maybe Sebastian Vettel, too, joining us because he did really well when he started racing midway through last season.

“The sport needs these sort of rivalries and I hope people will come to talk of us one day like they used to talk about the great rivalries involving Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet.”

The new season promises to be one characterized by new talent coming through, although Hamilton must be favourite to take the title this time.