Schumacher romps to Australian win

The cool, overcast, weather may have played into Bridgestone's hands, aiding Ferrari's cause, but whichever way you looked at it, they were totally untouchable. And at the chequered flag Schumacher took his fourth Australian victory in five years, and his 71st career win.

"Basically it was a perfect result," said Schumacher. "Rubens was pushing very, very hard and it was a tough fight. It was exciting. The car went well, we've seen it all weekend, but from my side I come out of the first race with two more points than I had after three last year. It's a good start to the season for me.."

The Ferraris were more than a minute clear of the rest by the finish, despite Schumacher rolling off the pace by up to six seconds a lap in the closing stages. But perhaps the biggest indication of the six times World Champion's ultimate speed was the fact that he set the race's fastest lap - and a new lap record - on old tyres on the penultimate lap of his second stint.

Technical Director Ross Brawn said: "Obviously it's a fantastic start for us. I really felt that last year being difficult would make the team stronger. I think we saw the start of that today. It still amazes me how good a job our team can do.

"I can understand why McLaren or Williams fans would be disappointed today, but there are a lot of Ferrari fans who are very happy. There's nothing I can do about it. We're just doing the best job we can. It's up to the others to respond.

Barrichello pushed Schumacher in the opening stages, but was forced to ease up when he started to lose his brakes. "We have a good first half of the race and were fighting," said the Brazilian. "My brake pedal began to go down, down, down. I came into pits, and didn't cool down the brakes. When I came out on more fuel, the brake pedal was really long, and if I kept on pushing I would have gone off for sure. I couldn't afford to do anything more."

Fernando Alonso took third place after a very strong, yet lonely, afternoon with the Renault, he, like Ferrari, employing a three-stop strategy. The Spaniard made a lightning start, just like the Renaults did last year with launch control, and he jumped from fifth to third after a wheel-to-wheel scrape with Montoya at the first corner. But he, like the rest of the Michelin runners was struggling with inconsistency, especially with the performance of the front tyres. Unable to chase the Ferraris, but well clear of Button, Alonso didn't put a wheel wrong all day, and joined the dominant Ferrari duo on the podium.

"I could not get close to the Ferraris but I was faster than Jenson," said Alonso. "I was in the middle of nowhere and had no major problems. I think we have three or four steps coming on the engine for the European races. At that time I think we can be competitive. We were looking for points from the first three or four first races, and a podium is probably much better than we expected."

The Williams pair of Ralf Schumacher and Juan Montoya were fourth and fifth, Montoya in particular having an eventful afternoon. The Colombian was passed right off of the line by Alonso, but made a bid to repass into the first corner, missed his braking and dropped back to eighth place. He quickly fought back, moving up the order, but was stuck for 10 laps behind Jarno Trulli whose car was damaged as he braked for the first corner. Montoya was also blighted by three slow pitstops which meant he had to lap harder to make up the time, and forced a couple of aggressive passes, especially on Jenson Button.

Williams Technical Director Patrick Head summed up his team's day: "Obviously Ferrari was extremely fast. I think all the Michelin runners experienced heavy graining on the front tyres. In the cold temperatures these compounds don't work too well, and our lap times were all over the place."

Button took sixth place, the Briton, like fellow Michelin runners, struggling in the cool conditions. He ran fourth in the early stages, but lost out to Ralf Schumacher in the pitstops, and was later passed by Montoya in a brave move under braking. When Schumacher slowed his pace at the end, Button was able to get back on the lead lap. He was content with sixth. "It's points, and that's good. We learned a lot today," he said, "and I don't think this race is representative of our season."

Trulli came in a disappointed seventh, and the Italian, like many others, suggests that Malaysia and the rest of the season will be a different story.

One team hoping that the Australian GP was a blip on the radar is McLaren. David Coulthard picked up the final point in eight place, and was far from happy after the race. "We were not fast enough, right from lap 1," said the Scot. "We need more, and we will go back, get our heads down, and move on." Coulthard's teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, was the race's first retirement, and he too was far from happy. "I lost water pressure, then the engine gave up. I wasn't expecting to be racing around in 10th place. We shouldn't be there. We should be fighting for first."

The general atmosphere after the race was one of despondency: not just because of the pace of the Ferraris, but of the way the new regulations have turned Formula 1 into an endurance event. With engines now having to run for three days, teams are being cautious during practice and qualifying, and the fact that Schumacher was able to lap well under his pole position qualifying time on the final lap of his second stint is the best indication that we are not seeing the ultimate cars being driven at the limit.

Another indication was the reliability of the runners, with just six retirements, and three of those came within the last 15 laps. Besides Raikkonen, Felipe Massa was the only other engine failure. Local hero Mark Webber lost sixth and seventh gears and was forced into the pits; Nick Heidfeld had a pit incident where he knocked over a couple of his crew without injury then pulled off, and neither Minardi made the flag.

The story from pretty much everyone was "wait for Malaysia". Ferrari may have dominated in Melbourne, but the chase for second could be pretty close... Something Ross Brawn freely admits: "We'll be working in a totally different temperature range in Malaysia, but the tyres were perfect today. I think the tyre war means it will be up and down this year. I'll be amazed if we're able to achieve what we did today at every race this year."