Although the racing was mostly overshadowed by politics during the Australian Grand Prix weekend, the season-opening race showed this year's titles are likely to be hard-fought by several teams and drivers. Richard Barnes reviews the events from the first round of the 2005 season

142 starts into his Formula One career, Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella finally got the belated Christmas present he'd been waiting for at Sunday's season opening Australian Grand Prix. It wasn't the Italian's maiden GP victory, but it was the first time in a long and under-rated career that Fisichella has had the pleasure of winning the race and standing atop the podium to receive his trophy on the same day.

Fisichella's first career win, in a Jordan at rain-soaked Interlagos in 2003, was arguably the most freakishly lucky F1 result in the new millennium. Sunday's win was also the result of rain and luck, although this time the Italian's fortuitous timing happened in the first qualifying session rather than the race itself. Nevertheless, nobody could begrudge Fisichella a stroke of good fortune in a career where poor decisions and rotten luck have been ever-present travelling companions.

Unfortunately, the increasing bitterness and in-fighting surrounding off-track issues meant that only part of the F1 world's attention was focused on Fisichella's excellently consistent and well-judged drive. Australia also marked an ugly legal wrangle between the FIA and Paul Stoddart's Minardi outfit, along with the introduction of the new 2005 rules. And it was these issues, rather than the racing itself, that dominated the weekend.

It's a distraction that further GP winners in 2005 will have to contend with as well. In a watershed year for the sport, the teams and major personalities are divided on the best way forward, and 2005 could well be remembered more for the outcome of this process than the eventual Drivers' and Constructors' champions.

The one factor that will help to reignite interest in the racing is a close and thrilling Championship battle. And in this sense, the Australian GP provided the perfect opening gambit for the protracted battle ahead.

For the first time this century, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher neither won in Australia nor looked even remotely likely to. That's an encouraging indicator. The only other time in the last five years that Schumacher has been beaten at Albert Park – in 2003 – F1 enjoyed a gripping and unpredictable title battle right through to the season finale at Suzuka.

Schumacher's lacklustre effort from the last row of the grid has prompted Ferrari to consider bringing forward the introduction of the 2005 car, to replace the modified 2004 design that ran in Australia. More importantly, it has given Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello a key eight-point head start over the reigning Champion in the WDC race. If Barrichello is to play anything other than a supporting role, it was vital that he capitalised on any Schumacher failures early on. Barrichello's eventual second place will be a huge momentum boost, particularly considering his relatively poor grid slot.

If Ferrari didn't have the best season opener, they can draw comfort from the fact that their main rivals had equal, if not worse, problems. McLaren, who had been buoyant before qualifying, had to be content with two minor points placings. For Kimi Raikkonen, forced to start stone last from the pitlane after a stall on the grid, it was as good a result as could have been expected on a track where overtaking is difficult.

But for Juan Pablo Montoya, ostensibly the more explosive of the McLaren pairing, an eventual sixth place finish wasn't good enough – particularly after Rubens Barrichello and Renault's Fernando Alonso had blown by him from lower grid positions. McLaren chief Ron Dennis blamed Montoya's poor finish on an off-track excursion that affected his tyres. And, to be fair, the Colombian also suffered from the same loose deflector problem that slowed Raikkonen's charge. But, even before the off-track incident, Montoya seemed unable to do anything more than hold station behind the leading pack.

Williams had reason to be happy with Mark Webber's excellent third place on the grid, even if that was largely due to the rain. However, for the Australian, a career-best equalling fifth place finish must have been soured by the irony of spending the entire race behind essentially the same team that he left as no-hopers in 2004.

If Webber is to fulfil his obvious potential, the Grove-based outfit can no longer rely on the brute power of the BMW engine. They will have to rediscover the design innovation and engineering excellence that won them a string of titles in the 1990s. Without Patrick Head and Adrian Newey, the technical lynchpins behind Williams' recent heritage, their quest to regain the top spot has consistently fallen short by a crucial step.

For BAR, the 'best of the rest' in 2004, Australia proved a disconcerting return to the Villeneuve era of marginal competitiveness. The team's controversial tactical decision to retire both cars on the last lap, allowing them to install fresh engines without penalty for the next GP in Malaysia, is not likely to help much. Particularly not if, as team boss Nick Fry suggests, the cars' Michelin tyres could not be brought up to peak operating temperature until the latter stages of the race.

The net winner from the leading teams' misfortunes was Red Bull's David Coulthard. The Scot seems to have benefited greatly from the more modest expectations of a smaller team, and showed that his racing credentials are still intact with a focused and feisty display that surprised many. Although new team boss Christian Horner may be reaching if he expects even greater things from Coulthard this season. It's hard to imagine Coulthard routinely starting from the first three rows of the grid in uniformly dry qualifying conditions.

Assuming that Red Bull's performance was a weather-induced fluke that will not be repeated under stable conditions, that leaves Renault as the only team who can be justifiably thrilled with their Australian performance. While the 16-point haul and the race win were more than they could have hoped for, Renault have a legacy of concerns from 2004. The car is blindingly fast on some circuits, very ordinary on others. Renault also seem to lack the season-long development tempo and the rapid turnaround times of Ferrari and McLaren, who have both shown the ability to transform the car's pace literally from one Grand Prix to the next.

For the moment, though, Renault are in a deserved first place in both championships. At the very least, they have already prevented the statistical possibility, popular with bookmakers at the start of each new season, that Michael Schumacher will win every race on the calendar. After the redwash of 2004, F1 couldn't have wished for a more promising start to the 2005 season.

Contact the Author Contact the Editor