McLaren's David Coulthard won the Australian Grand Prix after an epic battle
in Melbourne which showed the thrills and spills of Formula One in all their
glory.
It was Coulthard's 13th grand prix victory and although he admitted there were
elements of good fortune about it, the Scot had remained typically calm,
battling with his car, but avoiding the mistakes which ultimately cost his
closest rivals dearly.
Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya was leading when he spun and the Colombian had to
settle for second place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the other McLaren.
Raikkonen had fended off the attentions of Michael Schumacher, but his victory
prospects were dented when he was given a time penalty for speeding in the pit
lane.
With all parties watching closely for evidence that the series of regulation
changes aimed at spicing up the sport had worked, the fans at Albert Park were
treated to a race of high-octane drama.
Schumacher finished fourth, off the podium for the first time since the 2001
Italian Grand Prix, a run of 19 races, while his Ferrari team-mate Rubens
Barrichello was the first driver to crash out after only five laps.
The German opened up a seven-second lead after the first circuit, but the race
took until the final 10 laps to really take any shape.
That was down to the new qualifying system which had seen both Saubers qualify
in the top seven, but also the rain.
The drying track forced those on wet tyres to pit early for a quick change,
including Coulthard on only his second lap, while Raikkonen opted to change
before the race began and started from the pits.
The safety car came out twice, each time ruining Montoya's chances to extend
his lead, but playing into Coulthard's hands.
"Winning a grand prix is a fantastic feeling and although this doesn't rank
as one of my finest victories, when it comes to the points it doesn't actually
matter," said the Scot.
"I was standing between two talented racing drivers who had an equal
opportunity.
"When other guys were making mistakes, I didn't.
"Races like this are unusual. It's not the classic straight from start to
finish and none of us believe Ferrari wouldn't have been the most likely to win
that sort of battle.
"Equally, you will get one or two races like this each year and will get some
funny results.
"The circumstances meant that what looked like a difficult strategy actually
turned out to be a good one.
"The team did a great job and we had the right strategy which allowed us to
optimise the unusual circumstances, the weather and safety car.
"I think the performance showed we have taken a step forward and further
improved our competitiveness and hopefully we are all in for an exciting
season."
When Montoya went in for his second scheduled pit stop after 42 laps, the
world champion took the lead.
But Schumacher had damaged his right barge board and having dragged it for
four laps, was shown the black-and-orange flag and forced to pit.
It emerged that Ferrari had, for once, miscalculated the situation and
Schumacher needed to pit anyway to take on fuel for the closing laps.
Montoya, who had chosen not to change tyres and subsequently rejoined in
second place, regained the lead.
But the Colombian was 10 laps from victory when he spun on the first turn,
allowing Coulthard to skip past.
The McLaren sped off and won by eight seconds, but what resulted from the
chaos was a thrilling battle for runners-up spot with Montoya, Raikkonen and
Schumacher all finishing within a second.
"We started on dry tyres, which was an excellent decision, but then the
safety car came out and cancelled our advantage both times," said Montoya.
"Then when I finally got the lead again I went into turn one and went
sideways. It was absolutely my fault."
Raikkonen was 1.1kph over the pit lane speed limit and although it proved a
decisive slip, he got the better of a thrilling tussle with Schumacher.
"I had a long battle with Michael Schumacher and managed to keep him behind
me. At one point we were side by side, but I knew I was on the inside and stayed
ahead," said the Finn.
The incident saw a scratchy Schumacher veer onto the grass, but the German
took fourth place and five championship points as a positive.
"At one point I hit the kerb, damaged the car quite badly and lost a lot of
time because of it," he said.
"Apparently, on the lap before my last pit stop some parts started hanging
off the car and that was badly affecting its handling.
"All things considered, I think we can be happy with fourth place. It was an
interesting day with plenty of action and these five points will be important
later in the year."
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