MOTOR SPORT/FORMULA ONE CHAMPIONSHIP:THEY SAY you can't tell anything from the Australian Grand Prix, a race usually characterised by crashes, chaos and by the glassy fragility of the hyper-developed machines the teams bring to the opening round of a new Formula One season. That analysis is wrong.

Yesterday's demolition derby in Melbourne lived up to its splinter-strewn stereotype but there was one signal piece of information to be picked out of the wreckage. Lewis Hamilton is back and in furious form.

The young Briton, pipped to the 2007 drivers' title by a single point by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at the final race of the year in Brazil, has had all winter to dwell on the chances he missed, five months to work out whatever regrets he might have harboured after letting slip a point lead he had enjoyed since the mid-season. A dominant lights-to-flag victory in Melbourne will have been catharsis.

After claiming pole position on Saturday, Hamilton lined up on the grid ahead of BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica and third-placed Heikko Kovalainen, McLaren's replacement for Hamilton's 2007 nemesis Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was languishing in 12th, his new car nothing like the machine that had boosted him to two world titles in 2005/6 before last year's nightmare at McLaren.

It was worse for Raikkonen. The world champion's new Ferrari limped into the pitlane and stopped short of his garage midway through qualifying, necessitating a push from his mechanics, a breach which locked him out of the final session. He would start the race 16th.

Not that the Finn seemed to care one way or another. At the start, as Hamilton defended hard from a surge by Kubica, Raikkonen was already scything his way through the pack. By the time the safety car emerge at the end of the opening lap after a collision between Super Aguri's Anthony Davidson, Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella and Honda's Jenson Button, Raikkonen was lodged in the top 10 and the champion was pursuing Honda's Rubens Barrichello for seventh.

Ferrari had been electrifyingly quick in winter testing and the season-opener looked set for them to dominate but both Raikkonen and team-mate Felipe Massa would have disappointing afternoons, the Brazilian driver colliding with Red Bull Racing's David Coulthard on lap 25 and exiting the race shortly afterwards.

Raikkonen though was flying, he dismissed Barrichello and after the second safety car period occasioned by Massa's crash, had climbed to third, right behind Heikki Kovalainen. It was to prove the big moment of Raikkonen's afternoon.

Raikkonen tried an abortive move at turn one, before diving down the inside at turn three. But the Ferrari was carrying far too much speed and plunged through the gravel, falling to the back of the field.

At the front Hamilton was controlling with Nick Heidfeld of BMW in second and Nico Rosberg of Williams in third, the pair duelling throughout after Kubica had been dumped out by Williams' Kazuki Nakajima.

The carnage continued with Toyota new boy Timo Glock crashing spectacularly, a crash that brought out the safety car again. By this time there were less than 10 cars running of the 22 that started and Sébastien Bourdais the rookie at little Toro Rosso had risen to an astonishing fourth, ahead of Alonso, Kovalainen and Raikkonen. Bourdais too would be disappointed with his car failing just three laps from the end.

That elevated the battling Alonso and Kovalainen into fourth and fifth. The McLaren passed the Renault at Turn 13 with two laps remaining, only for Alonso to cruise back ahead when Kovalainen faltered on the straight.

Raikkonen's race was run a few laps later though. His battered car stopping at the side of the track to be classified ninth.

Hamilton afterwards labelled his win, ahead of Heidfeld and Rosberg, "the perfect way to begin season. We need to continue with the momentum we have. We could have gone quicker so I am not particularly bothered by the Ferrari pace," he added.

"BMW and Williams have great pace so we need to keep on pushing, and I hope we can get a good result again," added the McLaren driver.

Rosberg too was delighted with his first trip to the podium. "I'm really happy," admitted the German. "To get a podium in F1 is great. It has been a while, three years or something. It's nice and I am pleased for the team, they have been working hard all winter, making good progress and it has been great."

Raikkonen admitted to disappointment afterwards but was hopeful of being awarded a point as eighth-placed Honda's Rubens Barrichello was under investigation. "For sure if you cannot finish the race it's not very good," Raikkonen said. "But I think we should still get one point because Rubens went through a red light. It's better than nothing but obviously it is not what we wanted from here."

The series heads to Malaysia next week for a race which will be run in the same kind of searing temperatures that hit Melbourne this weekend but with the added difficulty of much greater humidity. Hamilton though can't wait.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "Bring it on."