Like the rascal of the pitlane most people think he is, Paul Stoddart spent most of last week in Melbourne with a grin on his face, a cigarette in one hand and a mug of tea in the other. He looked nothing like the most cunning and most daring so-and-so in Formula One, a man who was to cause Ron Dennis so much discomfort that the McLaren team chief deemed it worthwhile to spend Thursday evening, the eve of the first day's action on the Albert Park track, entertaining his thorniest rival in his hotel suite.

But when the little Australian returned to the circuit on Friday morning with promises of a more comfortable financial future in his mind, thanks to the words of Mr Dennis, there was a cheeky grin across his visage that told a story he dared not articulate in words. No wonder, then, that later that day he was jibed by a notable Australian reporter who suggested that he had been gagged overnight. It was not too far from the truth, in a way...

That was in the political run-in to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, but a weekend played out against that background was to follow, with Stoddart, like a motorized and modernised version of Puck from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the local hero, and his Minardi team pulling the first controversial tactical trick of the year.

Finding a hole in Max Mosley's new rulebook by dodging the qualifying runs and parking their cars at home overnight to avoid the parc ferme, Minardi prepared for their first contest of the year as the only team on the grid in 2003 still racing to most of the 2002 rules.

Some, of course, said that this trickery sat uncomfortably alongside Stoddart's claims that he was the greatest supporter of the new rulebook and the new Mosley era. But he knocked that back powerfully both before and after Sunday's gripping race.

"I am the strongest supporter of these new rules and I would do nothing against them," said Stoddart. "I am completely in favour of them and I would never abuse the regulations. I don't think FIA are upset with us. Everyone knew this option was available and I would do it again with the right same circumstances."

Stoddart, though, must be careful of offending the FIA. They are very powerful and they hold many of the cards that could decide whether his team survives or not. Still, despite the controversy in Australia, he quickly made clear that whatever happens elsewhere this year, he is going to be sufficiently well-funded to survive.

He now claims he has a budget to do the job, but it is a break-even affair. It permits little or no testing and offers only slight encouragement that things will get better in the future. But he truly believes he has a team and a driver line-up that will carry him, if not to glory, at least to respectability with a smile on his face - and in Melbourne that smile was most definitely present.

"At the end of the day we have finished as the highest placed Ford-engined car," said a canny Stoddart, always keen to get one up on rival struggling team boss Eddie Jordan, who at last year's Hungarian Grand Prix got into hot water after he trumpeted an 'exclusive' deal to bring the blue oval back into Formula One before agreeing as much with Ford's top executives.

Jordan, of course, canny himself, concluded the deal and is still pushing his connections with Ford with huge 'Powered by Ford' logos on all his publicity, his hope being that they might side with his team if their works outfit, Jaguar, fail as badly this year as they did last time around. But Stoddart also has the Ford logo on his car, albeit with a deal for lower spec engines. He is desperate to pounce on Jordan and step up the grid and, you know, he thinks he might just be able to do it.

"With a bit more time and testing and with this driver line up, the Ford engines and this team of people dedicated to keeping this team alive and well, we will make sure we are going to have a good year," said Stoddart. And if anyone deserves a good year it is Stoddart and Minardi.

The Australian team boss openly admits he hates the business of Formula One, a fact marked by his clear-the-air talks with Dennis after a public war of words between the two bosses at the top and bottom of the Grand Prix grid. But in the resulting calm, Stoddart seems to have proven he can swim with the Piranhas in the exclusive Formula One club.

Stoddart, always one to speak his mind, almost came to blows with a rival team boss over comments he made at last year's Austrian Grand Prix, in May, that Arrows, Minardi and Jordan might all imminently collapse and leave a gaping hole in the Grand Prix grid. Formula One is not used to such open honesty. He was right to air the warning, of course, and he was right that Arrows were on their way out. But he was not right, in Formula One's opinion, to reveal the sport's problems in such a public way.

His comments in Austria, and his comments throughout the previous winter after the shocking events of September 11th sent the world economy into a downward spiral, presented a picture of crisis. But the teams have Stoddart to thank for beginning the wind of change that has blown Formula One to recent new heights.

In doing so, he has helped pave the way towards the continuation of Minardi's presence on the Grand Prix grid. The little team has always lived on the edge and, it seems, they will continue for the foreseeable future to sit on the cusp of Formula One survival. But the fact that the team and boss Stoddart are all so focused on hand-to-mouth resilience gives them the best chance of riding the storm.

Since arriving on the grid after purchasing Minardi in 2000, Stoddart has beaten both Alain Prost and Tom Walkinshaw in the fight for Formula One survival. He watched with sadness as Prost Grand Prix collapsed and looked on with glee as his nemesis Walkinshaw, who tasted championship glory with Benetton in 1994 and boasts a long history in motorsport, failed to gather together his crumbling empire.

Stoddart is still standing - but finally, it seems the Australian loudmouth has been silenced. His frank discussion with Dennis, who complained of Stoddart's constant moaning and suggested he would be happy if the 'new boy' was chased out of town, may have done the trick. And don't expect to see Stoddart running.

Sir Frank Williams recently suggested his eponymous outfit and the other seven 'safe' Grand Prix teams on the grid - Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, Jaguar, Sauber and BAR-Honda - would ensure Minardi and Jordan make it to the end of the year. And maybe, just maybe, Stoddart can now finally concentrate on the whole reason he came into Formula One - to race and to have fun.

There is still plenty of work to do for his team and the opening race was a disappointment. Many, including outspoken new driver signing Jos Verstappen, thought the combination of Bridgestone tyres and Ford engine would guide the team up the grid yet, in Friday's qualifying, where all teams are on a level playing field, the Minardis were well off the pace.

"I must say I am a bit disappointed," admitted Verstappen, who joined the team after a year's sabbatical from Formula One. "When I came to the team I expected a little bit more competitive material and conditions.

"We have to work very hard and now we must work very hard with the team to find the right car and balance. I can say things but it is up to the engineers to fix and hopefully we have the team to do the job."

Stoddart must be quietly disappointed too, not that his ever-positive effervescent personality would allow that to be revealed. He knows it will be difficult for Verstappen and rookie teammate Justin Wilson to put up the required show at the next race in Malaysia. But he is still hoping.

"It is pretty big for us over there with our connections," said Stoddart. "It is going to be an important race but it will be tough for Justin Wilson, his first time in all that humidity. You can walk from the pits to the pitwall and back again and you need a new shirt! For the guys in the cars, in the cockpit it can get to unbearable temperatures, really horrible levels of heat.