Kimi grabs pole on Ferrari debut, Alonso in at second

Kimi Raikkonen took pole position Saturday for Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix...

Kimi Raikkonen took pole position Saturday for Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix, while Formula One champion Fernando Alonso starts his title defense beside him at the front of the grid.

It was Raikkonen’s 12th career pole, but his first in a Ferrari. Formerly of McLaren, the Finn joined Ferrari to replace seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who retired after finishing second on the drivers’ standings last year.

Raikkonen completed the 5.303-kilometer Albert Park circuit with a time of 1 minute, 26.072 seconds. His last pole position was at the Italian GP in September, but he was winless in 2006 after winning seven races in 2005 for McLaren. Now he will have a McLaren as a rival beside him on the front row.

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Alonso, sporting the No. 1 on his car once again, but with his new McLaren race car, was second with 1:26.493.

Raikkonen thinks his car can do better over the 58 laps in Sunday’s race.

Raikkonen’s teammate Felipe Massa did not fare so well and will start from 16th on the grid after a faulty gearbox prevented him from completing the second qualifying session.

–SALVATORE ZANCA

The RJD’s key face and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Tejashwi Yadav, party supremo Lalu Yadav’s son, will again contest from his stronghold Raghopur.

Amid Mahagathbandhan crisis, RJD unveils list of 143, drops 36 MLAs, focuses on ‘M-Y’

Political Pulse2 hr ago

The RJD, lead player of the Mahagathbandhan, released its full list of 143 candidates for the November Bihar Assembly elections. Its key face Tejashwi Yadav will contest from Raghopur, and 41 sitting MLAs have been renominated. The party has dropped 36 sitting MLAs and fielded young leaders, signaling a bid to consolidate its core Muslim-Yadav vote base. The Congress has fielded 60 candidates.

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