And the winner is….Formula One!



There were a lot of smiling fans at the end of yesterday's season opening Australian Grand Prix, including Ferrari fans, despite the fact that there wasn't a driver dressed in red on the podium. Everyone was happy because they witnessed something that has been lacking for some time now, real wheel to wheel racing.

The new regulations had something to do with the final outcome, as did the weather. Due to the fact that teams couldn't do a great deal of work to the cars prior to the race, and the track was completely opposite from the dry conditions experienced in qualifying, we saw different strategies coming into play and some hard fought battles.

At the end of it all, McLaren driver David Coulthard was smiling down on fans from the top step of the podium, his young Finnish teammate by his side, but according to Minardi team boss Paul Stoddart, the real winner of yesterday's opening round was Formula One as a whole.

"The winner of the 2003 Melbourne Grand Prix is Formula One. And I genuinely believe that. Who could say this was anything other than the most exciting race we have had for a long time?" Stoddart said. "OK, the weather helped. But at the end of the day we had people watching Friday, we had them watching Saturday, we had them talking in pubs about strategies and this that and everything else. The winner is Formula One and I reckon the rule changes should be applauded."