The Opening Race
By Turn Three at Melbourne last year, Sebastian Vettel was clear of the field. His win at Albert Park was rarely threatened, as he crossed the line 22 seconds in front of Lewis Hamilton in 2nd. Last year, as is so often the case, the first race provided a microcosm of the season to come.
Winners of the first race so often take the title. Even when they don't there are often clues as to who will. In Bahrain in 2010, Alonso won the opener (and, admittedly, nearly the title) but the real story was Vettel streaming away off the front to be stymied by unreliability. In 2005, Giancarlo Fisichella won on début for Renault, however he'd got a lucky break in qualifying. More representative was Alonso's fight from 12th, and Raikkonen not starting from the place where he'd qualified due to unreliability.
2003 saw Schumacher into 4th, but he was in the old F2002. The race was won by David Coulthard in the MP4-17D, as the surprise of the season was McLaren's competitiveness in the 2003 in a car not competitive in 2002! Anyway, 2003 signalled that Schumacher wasn't to have it quite as easy! There was DC's other opening win, in 1997, which was won with the benefit of seeing eventual champion and pole sitter Villeneuve in the kitty litter at the first turn, although McLaren weren't ready to beat Schumacher over the season as they were on the day.
And despite not producing a title winner, 1999's Australian GP really did set the tone for the season. Schumacher effectively out. McLaren fast, but to finish first...! Six different constructors in the points, and surprising success for Irvine, Frentzen and Ralf. (Also both BARs retiring!) It didn't see the champion win, but it did show the first sign of a crazy season. Read more
2011 Team Reviews - Red Bull Racing
Last year Red Bull was the team to beat, but all too often they beat themselves through a combination of driver error and unreliability. That didn’t stop them from clinching both championships; can they do it again in 2011? Read more
Looking ahead to 2013 - the drivers line-up?
Well 2012 may well only be 1 month and 16 days old, but teams will already be thinking about driver line-ups for next year including test and reserve drivers too. Read more
Drivers 2012: Who 'deserves' their place?
With HRT completing their driver line with Karthikeyan, it's obvious that although we have six world champions on the grid for next year there are also several drivers who maybe wouldn't be on the grid, and perhaps don't deserve to be, if it wasn't for sponsorship money. Read more
