In Melbourne

The last few days have been a complete blur, getting all the work done and then sleeping a little before the “Evening with Joe” event at the Albert Park Yachting and Angling Club. That seemed to go down pretty well with the locals and there was surprisingly little crossover of questions between that event and the one in London. The audience this time consisted of such luminaries as Tim Schenken, former F1 driver who is these days clerk of the course in Melbourne, and Bill O’Gorman, the man who did the original deal for F1 to go to Adelaide. I had fun. My evening ended with a quiet walk back towards the city through a very quiet Albert Park neighbourhood, with a little time to ruminate on the whole weekend. In fact, it is probably best to simply print an article I wrote for a newspaper down here about my thoughts about the weekend. So this just about sums it up…

“Formula 1 journalists are always being asked to predict the result of this race or that race. We all do it – and we have all ended up with egg on our faces at some point or other in our careers. One can only be so much of an expert. Sometimes you would need a crystal ball to come up with the bizarre story lines that Albert Park has produced over the years.

After the recent Bahrain Grand Prix, everyone was attacking Formula 1 for being dull. Until Lewis Hamilton upset the Melbourne police on Friday evening, that was the subject of most of the discussion in the F1 Paddock. Yet on Sunday night the place was buzzing. The Australian Grand Prix had been terrific entertainment. It had had the biggest crowd for five years and no-one went home from Albert Park saying that F1 was boring. Across the world, no matter what the time zone, no-one dozed off in front of their televisions. This was a cliff-hanger.

Mark Webber ended up with the fastest lap of the race, but that was probably only because he was angry at himself for making too many mistakes along the way. The last of these was the most unfortunate. With two laps top go he slid into the back of Hamilton and punted the McLaren driver off the road, just as the pair of them were screaming up behind the Ferraris and looking for a way to get ahead. One might forgive Lewis for heading off to his hotel thinking that all Australians have it in for him… In fact it seems he was more annoyed at his own team for calling him in for a pitstop in the middle of the race.

His team-mate Jenson Button drove a very mature race, admitting later that he had definitely been helped by the changing conditions early in the event, and by a well-judged early pit stop to switch to dry tyres. That was his own decision and it won him the race, although he admitted that at first he thought it was a complete disaster.

Was the Australian GP of 2010 significant for Formula 1? Did it end the worries about dull racing that were raised in Bahrain.

Partly.

“Not every football game is good to watch,” said Button after the race, pointing out that there may be other dull races later this season. There are many factors involved.

How did this year’s race compare to other Albert Park events? The Brawn 1-2 last year was a fabulous story and left Formula 1 humming with the excitement of a new team winning. But then did that really match the 2002 fairytale when Mark Webber finished fifth place on his Grand Prix debut in the Australian-owned Minardi team? Probably not.

One thing we do know is that year-in year-out Albert Park provides incident-packed races. In 2008 Hamilton built one lead after another as Safety Cars interrupted his progress. The same happened to Fernando Alonso in his Renault in 2006.

And there have always been quirks and nice little twists: Giancarlo Fisichella and Eddie Irvine were both unexpected winners in Albert Park and while Ferrari fans may like to see the Italian teams scoring 1-2s, it was pleasure in 2003 to see David Coulthard’s McLaren winning. If only because the car was NOT a Ferrari

There was also much excitement in 1996 when Jacques Villeneuve turned up in Formula 1 for his first race and tried to see if he could become the first man in the modern era to win his debut race. He took pole position but in the end his Williams-Renault team-mate Damon Hill stole Jacques’s glory. But it kept us on our toes.

The one thing that stands out when one looks back at the 15 years of modern F1 races in Albert Park is that the event is never predictable. The layout of the circuit is such that there seems always to be drama and excitement. The crowds may not be as big as they were in the old days, but they are still very healthy numbers. Australia is not bored by Formula 1. Far from it.

Perhaps more importantly the Formula 1 circus loves Albert Park. It is THE race that everyone enjoys more than the others. We are not just saying that. It is a place that new race promoters come to see to how to host a Grand Prix properly. It is an icon in its own right. And something that all Australians should be proud of – even if Mark Webber has yet to win.

Maybe next year…

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