This is just what the new season needed: The two Ferraris have returned to strength, but it is Felipe Massa and not Kimi Raikkonen, who scored the pole position. The two McLaren Mercedes were third and fourth, but it was Heikki Kovalainen and not Lewis Hamilton, who was the faster of the two drivers.
The beauty of this is simply that no one driver is dominating the series for the moment - albeit after only one race. Kovalainen will soon start to show what he’s made of, and Hamilton will have to work for his position. Nothing could be better.
The only down side is that Ferrari was so much obviously stronger here than McLaren, and that Australia is not a representative track. So this could be the beginning of a Ferrari domination, but I doubt it. I see a closer championship this year even than last year.
The session was carried out under the threat of rain, with race control announcing first rain, then no rain. In the end, the rain arrived just for the start of the GP2 race, 45 minutes after the F1 qualifying. And it wreaked havoc on the first lap of the race, taking out several cars in several different accidents. No injured, but the race had to be stopped and then restarted. There was a worrying moment just as the race started when Romain Grosjean on pole stalled the car and sat on the grid with all the cars having to make their way around him.
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