Timothy Collings: Albert Park Viewpoint

After all the hype, it was another red-wash. The Aussie fans had nothing Aussie to cheer. The Ferraris came home one-two, McLaren-Mercedes-Benz flopped and Williams-BMW flattered to deceive. Only the Renault of rising Spanish star Fernando Alonso could handle the scarlet pace, finishing third behind Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, a result that left the 'red baron' flanked by the only two men who can claim to offer a genuine challenge to his claims on securing an amazing seventh world title.

In his 195th Grand Prix, Schumacher started from his 56th pole and secured his 71st win, his fourth in Melbourne, a city that welcomed this Grand Prix with open arms. Had it not been for the 35-year-old German, however, this Australian Grand Prix would have been a virtual non-event; the new qualifying session format was a dismal bore and despite a programme packed with activities, the excellence of the organisation and infrastructure and the great atmosphere, the F1 element failed to deliver any magic.

Paul Stoddart, the local owner of the Italian Minardi team, pointed out that the latest stab at finding a qualifying format that works was a massive flop, and dangerous at that. He said it gave his team, and others, little chance to prepare their cars for the second qualifying session if they had any difficulties during the first. It was a valid opinion, but one that was sure to land on deaf ears.

To most of another huge crowd, of 121,500, on a weekend that attraced 360,900 to Albert Park, the lack of entertainment was the general gripe, especially on Saturday. Many local fans had paid up to 500 Australian dollars for a weekend ticket to see all four days at the Grand Prix and been treated, on Saturday afternoon, to an event that obviously believed noise and an empty track were enough to ensure value for money.

Sunday's race was not much better. The two Ferraris were in a class of their own with Fernando Alonso, in third, driving like a ghost locked in some kind of outer reality that prevented him making any human contact for the duration of a Grand Prix. The hirsute Spaniard did not mind; he took the points, grinned and dropped his Champagne bottle into the crowd. This guy, from Oviedo, is made of the 'right stuff' and seems already to have been anointed by Schumacher as his most likely successor.

When he is asked questions, in almost any language, he has an ability to answer with a smile and to fend off the nasty stuff. He is bright, charming, hairy, good-looking and funny. Moreover, his arrival as Spain's first serious and successful Grand Prix driver has meant also that they, quite suddenly, have a media corps that is many times the strength of their past representation of just two reporters; and this bunch of around a dozen are certainly much noisier.

Alonso, however, could not save the big crowd from a sensation of terminal boredom. To watch Michael Schumacher's driving school being enacted in slow motion is one thing, but to see it happening in a Grand Prix, with all the opposition spread-eagled, is quite another. Barrichello, the bold Brazilian, was a distant second. The rest were nowhere.

Jenson Button, asked what he felt about the predictability of the result and the sheer speed that delivered Schumacher and Ferrari to their record-breaking triumph, freely admitted he was stumped and shocked. "I didn't expect it, I was quite stunned," he said, before blaming the tyres and the weather for his own inability to have beaten the demi-God from Kerpen.

Watching Schumacher talking and handling his media commitments afterwards was like watching a well-oiled and seasoned machine at work. Or, more accurately, at play; it is just plain fun for him to win and win and win. But his relentless and superb quality and speed does not make the race fun for the average punter to watch.

And that, for the fans who expect Formula One to be more like karting or 'bumper cars', is the nub of the problem. They want to see a race that gives everyone an equal chance to lead and win. Naive? Yes. Unjust? No. But realistic? Not at all. Those fans who felt short-changed by paying so much to watch a procession, instead of a race, were right, but they have no hope of seeing things change.

In terms of value for money, with its four passes, limited incident and predictable result, the season-opening race failed to live up to the popular expectation of a race that excites, in the crudest sense. For the purist, however, it was a supreme example of near-perfection in motion, as the scarlet scuderia laid down the gauntlet. Now we have to see if any of the other teams can raise a challenge - and give the fans something other than Ferrari, and Schumacher, to cheer about.