Hamilton would be the team-mate of defending double World Champion Fernando Alonso. Alonso had joined McLaren after leaving Renault. On his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, he qualified fourth and finished third in the race. He became the thirteenth driver to finish on the podium in his first F1 career race (excluding those in the first ever World Championship round). In Bahrain, Hamilton got his first front-row start, qualifying and finishing second. Hamilton again finished second behind Massa in the Spanish Grand Prix. This put him in the lead in the drivers championship. Hamilton broke Bruce McLaren's record of being the youngest driver to ever lead the world championship.