Australian F1 Grand Prix

The Australian Grand Prix marked the beginning of the Formula One season and once again offered intrigue at almost every turn of the wheel. In the end, the Mild Seven Renault Team had its best result since returning to F1 three years ago and clearly has the speed to be a challenger to Ferrari this season. Renault won the weekend from a team viewpoint, with Fisichella first and Alonso third, though most of the leading contenders could take some heart from the weekend’s proceedings. McLaren is clearly a contender again, Ferrari’s 2004 car was competitive (the 2005 car won’t be ready for several races yet) and Red Bull proved that small budgets and a good driver can get results with two point-scoring finishes using last year’s Jaguars as a basis.

March 7, 2005 The Australian Grand Prix marked the beginning of the Formula One season and once again offered intrigue at almost every turn of the wheel. In the end, the Mild Seven Renault Team had its best result since returning to F1 three years ago and clearly has the speed to be a challenger to Ferrari this season. Renault won the weekend from a team viewpoint, with Fisichella first and Alonso third, though most of the leading contenders could take some heart from the weekend's proceedings. McLaren is clearly a contender again, Ferrari's 2004 car was competitive (the 2005 car won't be ready for several races yet) and Red Bull proved that small budgets and a good driver can get results with two point-scoring finishes using last year's Jaguars as a basis.

There were many rule changes that came into effect with this first race of the new season, the most significant being qualifying rules to determine grid position (the Saturday and Sunday morning session times are now added to get the starting order), tyres (one set of tyres must last both qualifying sessions and the whole race) and engines (one engine must last two entire race weekends).

Though there were a few individual tyre problems, the tyre manufacturers showed they could build a tyre capable of providing good grip and lasting long enough, and the engine manufacturers showed they were capable of providing engines of similar weight and horsepower that could also go the distance, at least for the length of the first race - around half the field now have to face the year's hottest Grand Prix in Malaysia with a second-hand engine. Both those feats are incredible in their own right, with lap times better than last year despite those two and several other major efforts to slow the cars.

All but two of the leading drivers were caught out by the first weather-effected qualifying session leaving Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya in placings not befitting their speed. If there was a silver lining to the clouds that never stopped threatening across three days of racing, it was that the race became even more intriguing, with Panasonic Toyota's Jarno Trulli on the front row of the grid, Jacques Villeneuve on the second row in his Sauber, and the pair of Red Bull (aka 2004 Jaguars) sharing the third row. All of those cars should rightfully have been behind the Ferraris,

In the end, David Coulthard provided a minor miracle by nearly putting the Red Bull onto the podiumand Jarno Trulli narrowly missed providing Toyota with points after scoring its first ever front row grid position. Trulli was able to retain second and keep pace with the leader until his first pit stop, but one of his rear tyres blistered and he struggled thereafter, dropping him out of the points.

Starting from pole position, Giancarlo Fisichella put in a faultless drive, and only relinquished the lead during the pit-stop cycle, when he stopped on laps 25 and 42.

Fernando Alonso (Renault) started thirteenth on the grid, (owing to the wet conditions in yesterday's qualifying session), but climbed through the field to finish third, just behind the Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello.

When the starting lights went out to begin the race, Giancarlo Fisichella made an impeccable start, leading from Trulli (Toyota), Coulthard (Red Bull), Webber (Williams), Heidfeld (Williams), Klien (Red Bull), Montoya (McLaren), Barrichello (Ferrari), Villeneuve (Sauber), Alonso (Renault) and Button (BAR). Further back, Michael Schumacher was trying to climb back through the field from his back of the grid qualifying slot.

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