How good was Lewis today? Well he says that he wasn’t pushing and you have to believe him, because he was unchallenged at the front of the field and didn't need to take any risks. Kovalainen had a heavier car than Hamilton in qualifying and on fuel-corrected times the Finn was right there. He also set the fastest race lap by a fraction, although Lewis probably had a bit more speed in reserve had he needed it.

I think there are some mind games going on here with Ferrari because we still don’t have a really clear picture of how fast the Ferrari and the McLaren are relative to each other. It is clear that the Ferrari is a very quick car – Raikkonen showed that on Friday morning and again in the early stages of the race when he was flying despite carrying 31 laps of fuel, some 40 kilos more than Hamilton.

And it is also clear that the McLaren is not only a good qualifying car, but its tyre wear in the race isn’t as severe as some had predicted. This is what Ron Dennis was referring to when he said he was delighted by how competitive the car is. So Lewis was sending a message to Ferrari that he could have gone faster if he had wanted to, which keeps them guessing.

He has had a perfect start to his 2008 campaign. Pole position and a win with his main rival Raikkonen scoring a single point and Massa getting none.