Ferrari drive own race to finish 1-2

F1 Grand Prix, GP Australia, Albert Park

With their Ferraris that have been supreme all weekend, 6 time world champion Schumacher gradually drove away from all competitors, closely followed by Barrichello until he got some problems with his braking pedal.

Of the non-Scuderia drivers it was Renault’s Fernando Alonso who led the challenge but even the Spaniard admitted he was never in Ferrari’s class. He was however remarkably faster than any of the other copetitors, and drove a lonely race.

Behind Alonso however, it was an exciting race with Renault, Williams and BAR battling for the points.

Starting from eighth on the grid, Ralf’s race performance was a good one as he moved to sixth off the line and claimed another two positions through the 58 lap event. Despite never challenging for race honours Ralf declared himself ‘happy’ with the event and warned that Malaysia would be ‘more Michelin conditions’.

Fifth was the German’s team-mate, Juan Pablo Montoya, managed a good race, from the second lap on. The Colombian was touted as a chance for race honours at Melbourne on Sunday but before even one lap was complete he had already ruled himself out. Bogged down at the start, Montoya was swamped by BARs and Renaults as the lights dimmed forcing him to take a defensive line into the first turn. He braked late and locked the front right understeering across the corner and onto the grass, which cost him 4 places.

McLaren’s David Coulthard made up for his qualifying mistake by moving from 12th to 10th off the line. The Scot marched forward at the expense for Sauber’s Felipe Massa and his McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn would later retire with an engine failure. Coulthard tried to make it all up on his own for McLaren, but admitted that his MP4-19 just didn’t have the pace. He finished eighth, which is without a doubt unsatisfying for McLaren.

Jaguar were another team that left Melbourne unsatisfied after their start driver, Australia’s Mark Webber, retired with gearbox problems from a points scoring position.

Toyota were also frustrated at the race’s end with their cars never looking competitive from the moment they left the garage on Friday.

The same couldn’t be said for Sauber who showed promise in the 2004 championship’s opening event.

Minardi and Jordan never expected to challenge the top guns so their events were understandable

The question now is can Ferrari be caught or are win in for another 2002-style season-long domination.

Thoughts in the paddock were mixed but Coulthard for one says he was ‘out of ideas’ on how to improve his car and catch the prancing horses.
Toyota’s technical director Mike Gascoyne said his tam’s car would be quicker in Kuala Lumper as did BAR chief Dave Richards who expected the conditions to be ‘more favourable’.

Trulli said he thinks Renault can do ‘very well’ in the championship’s second round suggesting a race win wasn’t out of the question.

But as the cleaners moved in and the crowd moved out of the circuit at Albert Park all of Ferrari’s rivals were left with food for thought.