Australian GP Facts, Stats & Memoirs

The 2005 season is finally here and with so many changes in the field the anticipation is probably even more than in recent years. We start this year with four rookies, one more than last year. What is different to recent years is that two teams have opted for a line-up without any Grand Prix experience. Jordan will start with Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro, while Minardi starts with Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher.

The last team to start the season with zero Grands Prix experience for their drivers was Coloni back in 1991, which was a one-car operation with Pedro Chaves not getting through pre-qualifying a single time. The last time a team actually fielded two rookies was way back in 1984, when Tyrrell started with Martin Brundle and Stefan Bellof. The fact that Jordan and Minardi are doing something that hasn't been seen in the last 20 years should make it clear that both teams are taking quite a risk this season.

While everyone anticipates how the teams have come out of the winter, one has to ask what the actual relevance of the opening round is. Looking at the drivers who were within a somewhat reasonable range of the Championship leader halfway through the season and how they did in the opening round, you have to say the opening round is very relevant. In only two of the last ten years the first race of the season was won by a driver that wasn't a contender by mid-season.