Surprises in first race of season

Sebastian Vettel's unchallenged victory aside, a number of elements of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix went against expectations. Ferrari was slower and McLaren faster than winter testing had suggested. The moveable rear wing seemed not to make a huge difference to the racing (but might at circuits with longer straights). Nor did the new Pirelli tyres (the performance of which did not drop away dramatically, as predicted).

Perhaps the biggest shock was seeing Vitaly Petrov in third place at turn three on the first lap - and in the same position 58 laps later, to take his first podium finish. The Russian helped himself to two spots at the first turn - going up the inside of former champions Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button - and passed the other Ferrari of Felipe Massa a few hundred meters later.

Inevitably this strong performance made some wonder where Robert Kubica might have finished. The Pole - certainly one of the five best drivers in F1 - was sidelined by serious injuries suffered when he crashed a rally car in early February. So the engineers at Lotus Renault GP will be thankful that Petrov stepped up to the plate and validated the innovative design of the R31 which includes exhaust pipes running forward and blowing under the floor of the car to increase downforce.