The first race of the season in Melbourne saw a surprise winner in Kimi Raikkonen. Fernando Alonso can't be written off. With Raikkonen in a reliable-looking car, he will have to be the relative outsider this season, writes Raja Sen.
India's Narain Karthikeyan will start 19th on the grid on Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took pole position for the showcase Monaco Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday with world championship leading German team mate Sebastian Vettel alongside him on the front row.
Renault's championship leader Fernando Alonso was pushed off the front row for his home Spanish Grand Prix.
Kimi Raikkonen is not assured of racing for Ferrari in Formula One next season, team president Luca di Montezemolo said on Wednesday. Rumours have swirled for months that Raikkonen will be replaced by Renault's Fernando Alonso for next year despite the Finn's contract with Ferrari running until the end of 2010.
The Finn fought back from sixth quickest in Friday's first practice session to edge out Schumacher for the fastest time overall.
Formula One said a tribute was in the works, with details to be confirmed. A minute's silence is likely before the race.
Renault's championship leader Fernando Alonso finished second ahead of Italian Jarno Trulli in a Toyota.
Ferrari's technical director said the Finn is an exceptional driver who doesn't appear to make many errors.
The Finn was running third when he was forced out of the Malaysian Grand Prix with transmission failure on lap 40.
The last time Kimi Raikkonen stood on top of a Formula One podium, Lewis Hamilton had just joined Mercedes with one championship to his name and Sebastian Vettel was riding high with Red Bull.
Team mate Sebastian Vettel was second fastest to complete the front-row sweep, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes.
It was Ferrari's first pole in Monaco since Michael Schumacher in 2000.
Kimi Raikkonen's return to the Italian Prancing Horse was immanent. And when it happened on Tuesday there was no surprise but questions rose over the place of Fernando Alonso at Ferrari.
Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen will lead the way when Formula One returns to Barcelona this weekend for the first race of the season in Europe. The Finn is top of the standings after the first three long-haul races, a novel sensation for a driver who won his title by clawing back a 17-point deficit in the last two rounds of 2007.
Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen tried out his second new Formula One circuit in the space of two weeks on Friday and declared the unfamiliar Indian track is to his liking.
The 2007 champion, who is out of contract at the end of the year and has been linked to other top teams, indicated at Spa that his salary had not been fully paid and Lotus knew what had to be resolved before any talks could begin.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen won the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, with BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica second and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen third.
The Finn revived Ferrari's spirits with the fastest laps in free practice for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Formula One title chaser Kimi Raikkonen says he is happy at Lotus - for now - even as speculation swirls around possible vacancies at the 2007 world champion's previous teams Ferrari and McLaren.
The Finn, world champion with Ferrari in 2007, is out of contract at Lotus at the end of the season and has been strongly tipped to become triple world champion Sebastian Vettel's team mate next year.
India's Narain Karthikeyan will start 19th on the grid.
The Scot believes his former McLaren team mate Kimi Raikkonen could yet emerge as Formula One champion this season.\n
Narain Karthikeyan finished 17th in Saturday's first qualifying for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.
Former Ferrari driver and Formula One ace Kimi Raikkonen has blasted the drivers' championship as boring and riddled with politics.
The F1 world champion said he could not imagine driving for any other team than Ferrari and he would welcome the Finn as a team mate.
McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen lapped fastest on Saturday in a wet final practice session for Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Kimi Raikkonen went further, saying he had no intention of leaving McLaren.
McLaren were back, ending their biggest slump of the last two decades to emerge as winners for the first time since March last year, and so too was real racing.
The Mercedes driver, who fought back from last to second after being sent spinning at the third corner by Ferrari's Finn, had spoken immediately after the race of the Italian team's 'interesting tactics'.
Narain Karthikeyan finished 17th in the first qualifying round at the San Marino Grand Prix
McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen is fully fit for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix after missing testing last week to recover from a crash at the previous race in Turkey.
The Finn won the race for the second year in a row and kept Renault's Fernando Alonso waiting for the Formula One title.
Kimi Raikkonen's possible Formula One comeback would liven up the post-race party scene as well as adding a sixth world champion to the starting grid, rivals agree.
Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus was fined 400 euros for speeding in the pit lane during the first practice session of the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida.
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