Well the first race was run and won. I thought you might be interested in my notes from Melbourne.

The most interesting thing I came upon was at corner 16. That’s the one that leads onto the straight. I was in search of a conspiracy theory, or more specifically, trying to find out for myself if Ferrari or McLaren have some form of traction control.

The corner is a long sweeping corner. The drivers had the choice of being in third or second gear. First free practice on Saturday, Villeneuve was changing into third (early) and taking the corner in third. Schumacher tried to do the same but the Ferrari’s motor, did not have the wider power range of the Mecachrome, and bogged down badly.

Michael then tried to take the corner in second, the Ferrari motor ran out of revs about half way around the corner, Michael changed up and the rear broke traction enough to upset the car very noticeably. The next time, Schumacher left the car in second and tested the rev limiter’s patience until the car was passed the apex of the corner, more or less pointed down the straight. The lap after, Michael pitted and Eddie appeared, Eddie spent most of the remainder of the session trying the same corner with different approaches; Michael and engineers watching from the pits.

During the whole session both Coulthard and Hakkinen seemed untroubled by the difficult corner 15/16 complex and appeared to be changing 2nd to 3rd in the middle of corner 16, Without upsetting the balance of the car through the corner or braking traction!

Having bagged one conspiracy theory for the morning, I next went in search of the illusive question: Have Bernie’s stupid tyres increased the braking distances - as advertised? To do this, I made my way to the difficult braking area for turn 3 where several drivers went off on Friday.

Standing at the 150m mark, the good drivers did not even think of braking yet. Moving down to the 100m mark: no, not quite yet. 50m: yes, hard on the anchors now. So, I backed up a little, 70 - 75m was the mark for the top runners.

Not bad from full pace. Not much longer despite the new tyres.

While on braking, the Ford motor really needed to get its act together. While most cars down change went Bang, Bang, Bang. The Ford motors down shift seemed to take noticeably longer. Between two or three times longer just going by ear. There seemed to be a different "cycle" happening. Shift Down, clear it’s through, engine brake, Down shift, clear it’s through, engine brake, Etc.. This was causing the Ford drivers to shift down earlier or miss the apex of the corner.

All that was left was to find my seat in the Grandstand on the main straight, ready for qualifying.

The first thing that I noticed was the Ferrari has a much shorter gear ratio than the others, Schumacher changed into 5th before where I was sitting (perhaps this was so he could take corner 16 in 3rd I speculated) while Villeneuve changed just passed me, while the McLaren pair changed quite a way further down.

Nothing left to do now but stake out the pit exit in hope of running into some of the drivers.

Eddie Irvine gets my. Top bloke award, for his performance leaving the paddock. Something like, "Here I am. Rape me."

Jarno Trulli gets my nice guy award. When the security guards tried to gather around him and muscle him past the crowd. He stopped them and signed autographs and chatted with his fans longer than any other driver.

Jacques Villeneuve gets the Houdini award for vanishing without a trace.

Patrick Head gets the sneaky award for his efforts. Dressed in a suit carrying a brief case and just minding his own business, he got through unrecognized. Well I was not about to blow it for him.

David Coulthard gets the, I’m awfully tall award when riding my push bike award, for his efforts navigating through the crowd on his pushie without stopping.

Lastly, this Toyota mini van arrives. We all see Michael Schumacher get behind the wheel. The crowd gathers around, Michael slows as he approaches, fans bang on his window, Michael smiles and continues. Standing too close, I get hit by the car.

I went home content in the knowledge that I joined an exclusive club today, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and I have all been hit off the road my Michael Schumacher.

As for the race, you all saw it and can come to your own conclusions about the new rules. I can only add that my impression of what the part-time Grand Prix spectators in the crowd thought. I did not run into anybody who thought the grooved tyres were a good idea. Most had heard of Villeneuve’s comments and agree with him.