F1: 2009 Australian Grand Prix Race day at Albert Park

A Qantas 747 makes a slow fly-past above the grid.

On the grid, Fernando Alonso looks agitated, and making a point to Renault race engineer Alan Permane, as team boss Flavio Briatore wanders round to join the conversation.

The spectators rise at Albert Park as 'Advance Australia Fair' rings out on the public address system.

The grid begins to clear, with the drivers getting ready to climb aboard their cars.

The pitlane is now closed, fifteen minutes ahead of the start.

Brawn GP boss Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher share a brief word on the grid. They looked pretty pleased and wished eachother well for the race.

Michael Schumacher chats with German TV crews as he makes an appearance on the grid.

The Brawn GP mechanics are trying their best to shield the pole-sitting car from prying eyes on the grid. This is one of the rare opportunities for the teams to have a close look at their rivals' new machinery.

The Australian Royal Air Force perform a flypast over the circuit as we move to within 20 minutes of the race start.

McLaren CEO Ron Dennis chats with Force India boss Vijay Mallya on the grid.

Force India have a supply of Mercedes engines for this sesason.

Jenson Button is out of his car, and chatting with his Brawn race engineer Andrew Shovelin.

Mark Webber has arrived on the grid and he climbs out of the Red Bull Renault, while his mechanics rub their hands over the Bridgestone tyres to clean them up.

Adrian Sutil has run wide, off the track and into the gravel exiting Turn 14. The Force India driver escaped unscathed.

The pair of Ferraris are wheeled into place on the grid. Having qualified seventh and ninth, they will benefit from Toyota's demotion to the back of the field.

Heikki Kovalainen and Robert Kubica have made their way round to the grid, and are being pushed towards their grid slots by the machanics. Felipe Massa has also arrived on the grid and is making his way to the sixth position.

Lewis Hamilton takes the opportunity of this lap to the grid to check that the new gearbox in his McLaren is working correctly.

Sebastian Vettel is strapped aboard his Red Bull as he prepares to go to the grid. The young German starts from third today and is well-placed for a good result on his debut with the team.

Lewis Hamilton leaves the McLaren garage and the champion joins the track, as does today's polesitter Jenson Button.

Williams drivers Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg are among the first to leave the garage and take their lap around the circuit.

The lights at the end of the pitlane flick to green, allowing the drivers to join the racetrack for the first time today.

They will now begin their reconnaissance laps to the grid.

Slick tyres make a welcome return to the sport in 2009. Once again, Bridgestone is providing four different rubber compounds during the year and is bringing a pair of tyre options to each race.

Here in Melbourne, the Medium and Super Soft compounds are available to the teams, with the latter marked by a green band on the sidewall.

The pit lane will be open in ten minutes for the cars to make their way around to the grid.

The all-new KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) makes its race debut today. The device stores the energy generated by the car under braking then distributes the stored energy in the form of extra horsepower via a 'boost' button.

The KERS units - weighing approximately 30 kilos - can deliver an extra 82 brake horsepower for a maximum of 6.6 seconds per lap.

So far, only four teams have decided to run their KERS system during the grand prix. They are:

McLaren Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton
Heikki Kovalainen

Scuderia Ferrari
Felipe Massa
Kimi Raikkonen

Renault F1
Fernando Alonso
Nelson Piquet

BMW Sauber
Nick Heidfeld

Only one BMW will run the KERS system in today's grand prix. Robert Kubica will not run the system following concerns surrounding weight distribution.

Kubica expects to have a difficult race

On March 17th the FIA announced that the weight of each car would be published after qualifying, allowing the media, spectators and fans to have an idea of the fuel load in each car before the race.

The heaviest cars will go further into the race before making their first pit stop, while the lightweights can be expected to enter pitlane earlier - on a strategy involving more stops.

No weight advantage for Brawn GP cars

The drivers' parade took place a short time ago, and gave a poignant reminder of recent events in Victoria that made worldwide headlines.

Traditionally, the drivers would be taken round in a wide variety of historic cars. But in a moving change, they were taken round in local fire trucks, as a gesture of support to those caught up in the recent appalling bushfires.

Drivers

Earlier, the stars of the show assembled at the front of the grid for the traditional 'class of 2009' drivers' photograph.

They appeared to a rapturous applause from the large Melbourne crowd, and were arranged in the familiar three rows while the Formula 1 photographers snapped away.

The 2008 championship rivals, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, sat side by side, as a new title battle beckons.

Albert Park

A massive crowd has arrived at Albert Park to enjoy a great day of racing. So far today they have been treated to several spine-tingling support races since the gates opened at 10:30.

Firstly, the Formula 5000 Tasman Cup Revival turned back time to a golden age of Australian single-seater motor racing.

Formula Ford, the Mini Challenge and Australian GT supports then followed, before the thunder of the V8 Supercars where Ford made it a clean sweep of non-championship victories for the weekend.

Aside from the racing, the spectators have been wowed by air displays, historic car demonstrations and the Minardi two-seater. Tonight, The Who will perform a live concert to round off a busy weekend at the circuit.

The stewards' room was a busy place after qualifying when Williams protested against the Ferrari and Red Bull cars.

Hours later, the protest was withdrawn.

Williams withdraws Ferrari, RBR protest

Lewis Hamilton's day went from bad to worse on Saturday. Having only just made it through the first period of qualifying, he was forced to pull out of the session with a gearbox problem. The subsequent change to a new unit means he will start at the rear of the field.

Hamilton to start from back of the grid

Hamilton won't be on the back of the grid, though, after Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli were stripped of their grid positions for a flexible wing infringement.

Toyota duo excluded from qualifying

Toyota have since decided that the pit lane is the best place to start from for today's race.

Toyota cars to start race from pitlane

Jenson Button

Saturday provided two marvellous sessions of action, and demonstrated a continuation of the winter testing form.

Nico Rosberg made it hat-trick of fastest times in final practice, blazing his Williams FW31 around the 5.303km Albert Park circuit in 1:25.808. Jarno Trulli was second for Toyota, with Jenson Button third in the Brawn Mercedes.

Everyone wondered if Rosberg could do it again and grab the pole position in qualifying. It wasn't to be, as Brawn GP took control of all three periods of the knock-out session with some stunning times. Jenson Button got the better of team-mate Rubens Barrichello in the final shootout with a lap of 1:26.202 as the pair of BGP 001s left the competition in their wake.

Sebastian Vettel claimed an impressive third spot for Red Bull Racing. Robert Kubica starts fourth for BMW, with practice pacesetter Rosberg in fifth.

The weather has been kind throughout the weekend so far and today's 58-lap race will be no exception.

Clear skies, plenty of sunshine and a maximum air temperature of 25 degrees Celsius will certainly allay pre-event concerns about the fading of the early-evening light.

AUTOSPORT forum members are invited to join the fun throughout the race, offering thoughts and opinions as the event unfolds.

• Are we set to see Brawn GP domination and a one-two finish?
• Will Ferrari or Renault manage to score a useful amount of points from lowly grid spots?
• What will Lewis Hamilton and the Toyota drivers be able to achieve from the back of the grid?

Tell everyone what you think.

Click the SHOW LIVE FORUM link in the red bar at the bottom of your browser window if you'd like to join the debate.

Hello everyone and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live, as we gear up for a new, exciting beginning to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Anticipation has been building for weeks, and finally now is the time - round one, the ING Australian Grand Prix from Albert Park, Melbourne.