Formula One: Over the weekend in Melbourne the central debate was the Australian city's place on the Formula One calendar. Was it valid to deprive it of its traditional season-opening slot?
Would it deflate interest in the European heartland of F1, where fans might shy away from a third race appearing in the ink-black hours of the early morning? Would, with two fact-finding races on the clock, the city be deprived of its reputation as a race where anything can happen?
The answers, delivered yesterday in a race as dramatic and incident-packed as any seen over recent years, was emphatically no. Littered with high-speed smashes, blistering overtaking moves, sparkling duels, a second win of the season for champion Fernando Alonso and a final straight disaster for the man who had on Saturday claimed a first pole in 38 years for Honda, the Australian Grand Prix lived up to its usual billing - in spades.
Even before the race start the Albert Park circuit threw twin curve balls.
Juan Pablo Montoya spun his McLaren just as he was about to take his fifth-place grid spot. Up ahead, in second on the grid behind pole-winner Jenson Button, Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella was waving his hand in the air signalling he had stalled. Cue a re-start with Fisichella starting from the back and, amid the guffaws of rival team personnel, Montoya took his allotted place in fifth.
As the race started proper, Button held off a stern challenge from Alonso into turn one, the world champion forced to lock up as he tried to pass Button around the outside. Behind the pair, the first of the day's major incidents was unfolding. Red Bull's Christian Klien was tapped by the Ferrari of Felipe Massa resulting in a stronger collision between the two that then spectacularly sandwiched Massa between the Red Bull and the Williams of Nico Rosberg.
Klien was the only one to escape the carnage. Or so it seemed. The Austrian's race was ended three laps later when he locked up under-braking and smashed into the wall in another dramatic crash.
That brought out the safety car for the second time. In the meantime, Alonso had bustled his way past Button and was beginning to stretch his lead. It was one he would defend with ease until the finish.
With the Spaniard controlling the race and with Button being dismissed to fifth as he was beaten back by first Kimi Raikkonen and then Ralf Schumacher of Toyota and BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld as his Honda's pace flagged, the television crews turned their cameras back through the field as the debris began to pile up.
After 32 laps Michael Schumacher, who had qualified 11th but had mounted a charge to be within sight of a podium finish, pushed too hard, locking up and smashing into the pit straight wall. Once again, enter the safety car for the third time.
The intrusion, coming soon after a round of pit stops, left Alonso leading, followed by Heidfeld, just ahead of the pressing Raikkonen.
The Finn attempted to slip past Heidfeld to no avail as behind, Button and Montoya tangled in traffic. But it was just behind them that chaos again erupted. Vitantonio Liuzzi of lowly Scuderia Toro Rosso had pushed his way to ninth and a sniff of a points finish. But five laps after Schumacher's crash, Liuzzi, too, was in the wall, his car disintegrating as he bounced from one side of the track to the other.
A fourth safety car period ensued.
When eventually it peeled off the pit lane and racing resumed Alonso once again pulled away from the pursuing Raikkonen, opening up a solid seven-second gap ahead of the Finn. Behind, Ralf Schumacher had dragged his previously uncompetitive Toyota into third, though there remains the suspicion he could be penalised for an illegal pass on Heidfeld while the safety car was on track.
Heidfeld was lodged in fourth, with trailing Button desperately defending fifth as Fisichella roared back into the equation having steered through the chaos from his back-of-grid start.
Button looked to have the upper hand and as the pair dived towards the final turn the Englishman looked to have done enough to claim four points. But as they thundered into the final bend, a small cloud of smoke belched from the back of Button's Honda. A second later and it was a white pall, as his engine let go. Fisichella surged forward, rounding Button to steal fifth.
The desperate Honda driver, hammered his accelerator to the floor in a bid to nurse his car to the chequered flag, waving just 200 metres away. But as flames exploded from the back of his car, all momentum died and he ground to a halt just metres from the finish line.
So, another win for the defending champion, another chase for the lead from McLaren's Raikkonen. Melbourne traditionally has been an action-packed race that because of its status as the season's opening voyage into the unknown, told us little.
Yesterday it gave us more. All its usual mayhem plus the emergence of some patterns that may be with us through the season.
A dominant defending champion, Raikkonen as his chief challenger once again. With Honda as the third power, there were signs that Toyota may have solved their early season problems and also indications that Ferrari's hopes of a more fruitful 2006 look set for disappointment.
Grand Prix of Australia
1. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:34:27.870
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren +00:01.829
3. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 00:24.824
4. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 00:31.032
5. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 00:38.421
6. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BMW Sauber 00:49.554
7. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 00:51.904
8. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Ferrari 00:53.983
9. Scott Speed (US) Toro Rosso - Cosworth 01:18.817
10. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1 lap
11. Christijan Albers (Netherlands) MF1 - Toyota 1 lap
12. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda 2 laps
13. Yuji Ide (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda 3 laps
Retired: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren 11 laps; Tiago Monteiro (Portugal) MF1 - Toyota 18 laps; Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso - Cosworth 20 laps; Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 25 laps; Mark Webber (Australia) Williams - Cosworth 35 laps; Christian Klien (Austria) RedBull - Ferrari 53 laps; Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 57 laps; Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Cosworth 57 laps; Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 57 laps.
Fastest Lap: Kimi Raikkonen, 1:26.045, lap 57.
Drivers Points: 1. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 28; 2. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 14; 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 14; 4. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 11; 5. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 11; 6. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren 9; 7. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 7; 8. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 5; 9. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BMW Sauber 5; 10. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 4 11. Mark Webber (Australia) Williams 3; 12. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 2; 13. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams 2; 14. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 1; 15. Christian Klien (Austria) Red Bull 1; 16. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 0; 17 Christijan Albers (Netherlands) MF1 Racing 0; 18. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso 0; 19. Scott Speed (US) Toro Rosso 0; 20. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri 0; 21. Tiago Monteiro (Por) MF1 Racing 0; 22. Yuji Ide (Jpn) Super Aguri 0.
Constructors Points: 1. Renault 42; 2. McLaren-Mercedes 23; 3. Ferrari 15; 4. Honda 13; 5. BMW Sauber 10; 6. Toyota 7; 7. Williams-Cosworth 5; 8. RedBull-Ferrari 2; 9. MF1-Toyota 0; 10. Toro Rosso-Cosworth 0; 11. Super Aguri-Honda 0.
