Formula One/Australian Grand Prix:The Australian Grand Prix, as the traditional start point for the Formula One season, is usually one of the season's great imponderables. A temporary circuit run around Melbourne city centre parkland means an unpredictable track.
A winter of driver reshuffles means unfamiliar machinery and team-mates. A slew of rookies on the grid leads to over-ambitious moves and first-corner chaos, and underdeveloped machinery results in a high attrition rate as cars expire.
That is the usual scenario. Yesterday, at Albert Park, none of the variables showed up for work. All the pre-season gossip was simply confirmed as Ferrari's new signing Kimi Raikkonen dominated the race from the pole position he had comfortably claimed on Saturday.
In the run-up to the start of the new season, all the talk had been of this being the most open campaign since before Michael Schumacher made the championship title his own. Schumacher, though, is gone and the prospect was of a battle between a host of successors. Raikkonen, defending champion Fernando Alonso and a host of newcomers would all battle for honours.
That prospect still holds as the places behind Raikkonen were hard-fought and hard-won, but the 58 laps around Albert Park yesterday confirmed that in the short-term at least, Ferrari are the team to beat.
Indeed, it would likely have been a Ferrari whitewash had Raikkonen's team-mate, Felipe Massa, not suffered a mechanical problem in qualifying which necessitated an engine change overnight to leave him starting from the back of the grid. As it was, he clawed his way to sixth.
That pace alone would suggest that a problem-free qualifying session would have netted him a decent starting spot and podium position at the finish.
Raikkonen, though, in typical monosyllabic style, refused to be drawn by suggestions that we are in for another all-red season.
"It was fantastic. The weekend has been very good. I have to thank the team as it is fantastic. Today the race was not as easy as it may have looked like. Just before the start my radio broke, so I did not have the radio always. It was a bit complicated."
Ferrari, however, won't have it all their own way. There is consolation in the fact that McLaren have taken a giant leap forward from the pace and reliability issues that blighted recent seasons for the Mercedes-powered team.
Alonso, who joined McLaren from Renault at the end of last season, proved as much with a characteristically assured race.
While he rarely pressured, the Spaniard demonstrated that the new MP4-22 is a reliable and quick machine, with an engine that looks like it could soon have the measure of the Ferraris.
He was joined on the podium by debutant team-mate, rising British star Lewis Hamilton, who claimed third place on his F1 debut, a remarkable result for a young driver who only a year ago was being regarded as a risky, too inexperienced, F1 prospect. He never dropped out of the top three and even led for periods to become the first F1 rookie to claim a podium finish since Jacques Villeneuve in 1996.
"It has been fantastic and to lead in my first Grand Prix was a fantastic feeling," said the 22-year-old. "It was pretty tough. I had Fernando behind me for a long time and it is not easy when you have the world champion on you. I have a fantastic team. It was all a new experience for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it."
Defending champions Renault have clearly taken a step back. On Friday and Saturday, Giancarlo Fisichella had looked to have long-run pace that would keep Renault close to the front of the grid but the Italian and rookie team-mate Heikki Kovalainen were out of contention for the podium spots before a third of the race was won.
Their loss is BMW-Sauber's gain. Heidfeld and team-mate Robert Kubica were both strong contenders during the race though Kubica was eventually undone by a mechanical problem. The battle between the fast but unreliable BMWs and the bulletproof but laggardly Renaults could be the one for third place in the championship.
As Raikkonen stoically accepted his winner's trophy on the top step of the podium with customary aloofness, it was clear that this was no bang-for-buck Hollywood action flick, more a pilot episode for a series that might yet develop an intriguing plotline.
Results of Australia Grand Prix
1 - K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari1:25:28.770
2 - F Alonso (Spa) McLaren+00:07.242
3 - L Hamilton (Brit) McLaren00:18.595
4 - N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber00:38.763
5 - G Fisichella (Ita) Renault01:06.469
6 - F Massa (Bra) Ferrari01:06.805
7 - N Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota1 lap
8 - R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota1 lap
9 - J Trulli (Ita) Toyota1 lap
10 - H Kovalainen (Fin) Renault1 lap
11 - R Barrichello (Bra) Honda1 lap
12 - T Sato (Jap) Super Aguri-Honda1 lap
13 - M Webber (Aus) RedBull-Renault1 lap
14 - V Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Ferrari1 lap
15 - J Button (Brit) Honda1 lap
16 - A Davidson (Brit) Super Aguri-Honda2 laps
17 - A Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari2 laps
Retired- A Wurz (Aut) Williams-Toyota (10 laps); D Coulthard (Brit) RedBull-Renault (10 laps); R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber (22 laps); S Speed (US) Toro Rosso-Ferrari (30 laps); C Albers (Net) Spyker-Ferrari (48 laps).
