Australian Grand Prix Review

And that was exactly what the FIA had been hoping for from all the rule changes. It was a surprise that the post-race headlines attributed the action-packed nature of the event wholly to the weather, downplaying the effect of the new regulations. For although the damp track at race start did have a massive effect on the opening laps, with tyre choice coming into play, the fact was that the new procedures put the emphasis back on the human element, and it was indeed the human element that decided the final outcome.

In the past few years, Formula One had become too robotic, too technological, too perfect. There was no room for human error, because that aspect had largely become avoidable via electronics and computers. What the new rules did was not manipulate events to manufacture interest, but instead helped put the pressure back on drivers, engineers and strategists alike in the heat of the moment - and it worked a treat. The incredible litany of mistakes from some of the most unexpected quarters achieved exactly what the FIA wanted to do, and it created a marvellous spectacle.

In return, the opportunity to thoroughly prepare their cars may well be worth the lower grid start. Especially if inclement weather is forecast for race day, as it was for Sunday in Melbourne. After all, to have a car on full wet set-up whereas others are struggling with a machine that is not softly sprung enough could be a massive advantage. And when the heavens opened on Sunday morning, suddenly a wet-track master like Verstappen was looking very good.

Suddenly, the wet-dry tyre dilemma, the different compounds of tailor-made dry tyres that each car was running, and fuel loads all came into the equation, and it made for an awful lot for those in the cockpits and on the pit wall to digest and process on the run. With everyone also somewhat rusty after almost five months since Suzuka 2002, mistakes compounded as the pressure mounted. It began even before the lights went out, as Rubens Barrichello blatantly crept forward almost a full car-length before the off.

Before he was hauled in for his penalty though, the Brazilian had become the first retirement of 2003, crashing on the exit of turn 5. He blamed it on the HANS device for affecting his concentration, although the fact that his full wets were starting to shred on the drying track may also have been a factor. The numbers do not lie: after one lap, Michael Schumacher's lead over the third-placed man was a staggering 7.4s. By lap three it was 11.3s, then 12.0s, but then it began to rapidly dwindle back to 9.5s and 6.7s by lap 6.

Even Juan Pablo Montoya, who turned out to also be on a two-stopper, had opted for the Michelin dries. And by the time Schumi pitted for dries, as mentioned above Montoya had cut his lead to 6.7s. Schumi was always going to be behind the Colombian with two fuel stops each to go, and on a track where passing is possible but not particularly easy, the German had already ceded the advantage. If anything, the fact that his tyre change came just as the safety car emerged for the first time actually benefited him.

However, the drama with Schumacher's rear left wheel gun put him behind a one-stopping Kimi Raikkonen as well, and as the race progressed, the Finn was able to aggressively but cleanly stave off the Ferrari in three separate segments. That, coupled to three separate off-road excursions, one as he tried to pass Kimi on the outside of turn 1, one at turn 9, and one at turn 12 that severely damaged his undertray, meant that Schumi was hardly in a position to win the race right from the word go.

Raikkonen's masterstroke of coming in after the warm-up lap to change from wets to dries ought to have won him the race. In hindsight, there is no doubt that dries were the way to go. By then gaining track position ahead of Schumacher, and by catching up to Montoya on the first safety car and being ahead of him with one fuel stop each to go, Kimi was in a perfect position to claim the win that eluded him at Magny-Cours last year, especially in view of the outstanding way he fought off Schumi's repeated challenges.

From sixth last on the grid, a win would have been some feat. But alas, a very minor pit lane speed infringement brought him in for a drive-through penalty. There was no point crying over spilt milk, the rules are the rules and must be enforced. So that essentially turned his race into a two-stopper as well, and put him back behind Montoya but still ahead of Schumi. It looked as though the Colombian would pull off the win after all in the relatively uncompetitive FW25.

His two-stop plan had put him ahead of Coulthard's one-stopper, kept him ahead of Schumi, and left him ahead of Raikkonen too after Kimi's penalty. But eleven laps from home he too made an error, spinning on the exit of turn 1 and brushing the wall. It may have been due to the fact that he had not changed tyres at his second stop, and while Montoya admitted that it may have been a contributing factor, it was a calculated risk after he had found his car difficult to handle on fresh rubber.

And so it was left for David Coulthard to claim a rather fortunate win, but a deserved one nonetheless because he put his foot wrong the least. His only mistake was to start on wets, but it was a mistake he rectified faster than anyone else apart from his team-mate. Though he was then trapped in the pack with poor track position, he was able to catch up to the leaders under the safety car periods, and then capitalise on the others' errors to get his 2003 campaign off to the perfect start.

At this point, it is worth talking about the man who, during the first safety car period, was in hindsight actually in the best position to win the race. That man was Mark Webber. I kid you not. He too was on a one-stopper, and he too had started on dries. After sliding around for the first few laps, when the first safety car came out to clear up Ralph Firman and Cristiano da Matta's incidents, Webber found himself 4th having sliced through some of the runners on wets, and with others having pitted to go from wets to dries.

The Jaguar was ahead of the fellow one-stopping Raikkonen and Coulthard, and also in front of the two-stopping Schumacher. Upon resumption, Kimi and Michael passed him fairly easily it must be said, as the Australian tried to get heat into his tyres. But as they were all held up by Jarno Trulli's Renault, Webber was able to hold onto both the McLaren and Ferrari, both of which as it turned out still had two visits to the pits to go, and was pulling away from Coulthard when his rear suspension failure struck. OK, even if the win was a bit far-fetched, had the Jag hung together, Webber was on his way to big points.

Behind the first four, in the final wash-up it was Trulli who scored 4 points for 5th. Having also started on dries, he was virtually on the same strategy as Montoya. After two messy qualifying laps, he made amends in the early laps by following team-mate Alonso up through the field as the Renaults picked off the guys on wets, made his first stop at the same time as JPM at the start of the second safety car period, and thereafter drove a solid race, although the Renault never had the speed to challenge the front-runners.

Alonso ended up collecting two points for 7th. Unlike other wets users he actually made his way up the field, passing the BARs and Saubers, making some incisive moves that displayed his enormous talent. The team then decided to bring him in near the end of the first safety car period before changing his tyres, electing to give him a mammoth second stint to compensate for the early stop. That left him in dire track position with a huge fuel load, a position from which the Spaniard never recovered.

Heidfeld came in after HHF, by which time he had slid back down the pack as fast as he had climbed up through it, and he dropped to near-last. His car then succumbed to a suspension failure which almost pitched him into the side of Ralf. In reality, though, the Saubers appeared nervous throughout the weekend, and have some seriously hard aerodynamic work to do if they are not to squander the great advantage they have in the form of the Ferrari F2002 engine and gearbox.

Also not living up to their early promise was Toyota. Both Olivier Panis and da Matta started on dries. Cristiano spun out making a silly move inside both Pizzonia and Schumi all at once. Panis was up to 4th by turn one, only to find himself dropping to 11th by lap 2. Once the dries came into their own, he was unable to scythe through the field like Webber and the Renaults, made a stop that was very early for his two-stop strategy, copped a penalty for crossing the blend line, and retired with fuel pump problems.

At that point they were on Coulthard's tail, and not too far off the McLaren's pace. Had they come in separately, and had they been fuelled to the end of the race, there is a good chance that Villeneuve may have been on the podium, and both BARs well in the points at any rate. Instead, in the mistaken belief that the Bridgestones wouldn't last such a long stint, both cars were fuelled short, and had to make second stops. So a rather costly strategic error which wasted some decent pace from Geoff Willis' design.

In spite of all the promising noises surrounding the Jordan EJ13, the reality was that the car was not hugely competitive. Firman was up to a fine 8th when he crashed, but Giancarlo Fisichella had a highly anonymous outing. Heavy-laden with fuel, he dropped down the field at an alarming rate early, was as high as 4th by default before his first stop, and hovered outside the points until a late gearbox-induced retirement. Jordan's financial issues have meant that the EJ13 Cosworth remains an under-developed package.

Finally, for all the excitement and drama that the Melbourne Grand Prix produced, the Australian, British and international motor racing communities were cast into grief the day after the race, when Barry Sheene lost his brave fight against cancer. A carefree British folk hero motorcycling legend who was far from outclassed on four wheels as well, his honest and personable nature and his multi-lingual skills kept him in close contact with both the motorbike and Formula One communities.

Yet despite the sadness of Sheene's passing, Melbourne has marked the start of a new revitalised era for F1. Even if future races do not produce as many mistakes, as much overtaking, or as much unpredictability, the undeniable fact remains that Formula One has now well and truly reverted from being a battle of computers to a sport involving people, where the race outcome will once again be decided by either people's brilliance or people's mistakes, and in so doing pleasing the people in the grandstands as well.