MELBOURNE, Australia — Sebastien Bourdais said after pre-season testing he was happy with his race pace, but his qualifying pace needed work.
The four-time Champ Car title winner proceeded to play out that scenario in his F-1 debut. He started 17th, but thanks to great pit strategy and a clean drive, he was running fourth and holding Fernando Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen at bay in the closing laps.
But an engine problem sidelined his Toro Rosso Ferrari with four laps to go. Still, he finished eighth and was classed seventh after Rubens Barrichello was disqualified.
“It was very tough as I was under a lot of pressure from behind,” Bourdais said, “first from a BMW and then it was Fernando and Kovalainen. At one stage, I decided to back off a bit, but I found I was making a few mistakes, so I pushed harder and pulled out a bit of a gap.”
Bourdais’ fastest race lap was only .032 of a second slower than David Coulthard’s in the faster sister team Red Bull.

• Nick Heidfeld was the first driver out on the track as the first practice session began on Friday morning to officially kick off the 2008 F-1 season. His BMW Sauber teammate Robert Kubica was the second driver out. Sebastien Bourdais completed the first flying lap of the session in his Toro Rosso.

•  Pit garage distribution is based on how the teams finished in the previous year’s Constructors’ Championship. McLaren, therefore, should get the last set of garages at the opposite end of pit lane from the Ferrari garages. But McLaren has been slotted into the fifth set of garages between Williams and Red Bull because, it is speculated, of the logistics where to put McLaren’s massive hospitality center in the paddock at the European races.
Was that the real reason? “Ask Bernie [Ecclestone],” Ron Dennis replied.

•  The queasy lime-green trousers of Honda’s new team uniforms left one feeling somewhat nauseous if you looked at them for more than a few seconds.

•  Timo Glock qualified ninth, but started 19th. Officials penalized him five grid spots for a gearbox change [gearboxes must now be used over four race weekends] plus another five for impeding Mark Webber’s qualifying lap.

•  The future of the Super Aguri is secure after reaching an agreement to let the Magma Group to acquire the team. A statement by the team said that Magma has also reached an agreement with Honda regarding technical cooperation and engine supply to the team. The deal should be finalized in the next several weeks. Based in England and run by former Ford exec Martin Leach, Magma is a consulting group for the automotive business worldwide.
Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson have been confirmed as Super Aguri’s drivers for 2008.

• Good guy Lewis Hamilton still took time to sign autographs for the fans outside the F-1 paddock. He says he doesn’t plan to ignore the fans even though there are more demands on his time now.

•  McLaren has terminated the contract of Chief Designer Mike Coughlan. It was speculated that Coughlan has agreed with the FIA to a two-year motorsports ban because of his part in the spy scandal last year.

•  While he was not expected to be in Melbourne, it was still strange  not to see Jean Todt at a race for the first time since he started working for Ferrari at the 1993 French Grand Prix. Stefano Domenicali has taken over Todt’s job in the team.

• “It’s lucky we don’t build airplanes!”
Mark Webber delivered one of the most memorable lines of the weekend a couple of hours after he crashed out of qualifying because of a brake failure on his Red Bull Renault.

• When Kimi Raikkonen paused for a mere seven seconds and then 10 seconds at the two areas for official preseason driver photos, the FIA ordered him to put his driving suit back on and return to pose again for a longer time.

•  Should the Australian GP be held at night?
“There is nothing wrong with the event as it is,” Mark Webber said. “It is a superb event and it can continue to work like this. But if there is a reason to hold it at night, there is no downside to that at all. If we have to do that to keep it in Melbourne we should do it.”

•  Legendary rock group Kiss performed at the post-race concert at the track.

•  Honda CEO Nick Fry and drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button donated $100,000 to the Lighthouse Foundation during a visit to the charity for homeless children in Melbourne.

•  David Coulthard always goes shopping after arriving in Melbourne. He buys 40 pairs of his favorite brand of Australian Holeproof Underdaks underwear that he wears on Grand Prix weekends.

•  Ron Dennis squashed rumors that he will step down as McLaren team principal this season.
“I want to win races and I think I have something to contribute,” he said.

•  There was a touching moment after the race when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, grinning widely, hugged each other and jumped up and down with glee. They have been good mates since they were teammates in go-karting. The last time they were on the podium together was after a go-kart race in 2000. And now, with Rosberg earning his first podium, they were together on the rostrum for the first time in F-1.

• The members of the Grand Prix Drivers' Ass'n unanimously elected McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa as the new president. He replaces Ralf Schumacher, who left F-1 at the end of last season.