Sunday's opener in the Formula 1 season means exciting things ahead. Justin Hynes reports
All good things . . . except in Giancarlo Fisichella's case the wait turned into a nine-year marathon. The Italian has been one of the grid's most under-used talents in his long and largely fruitless career to date but at last has a car in which to demonstrate his extravagant gifts.
The question is, however, is this another one off - like his fortunate maiden win in Brazil for Jordan two years ago - or is Renault really in a position to challenge Ferrari for the championships and hold off challenges from the likes of McLaren and other frontrunners?
Based on Sunday's evidence the answer is a resounding yes but it won't be without a (hopefully) epic fight.
Thanks to the new aero-dynamic regulation, all the circuits will require the teams to run more wing, the restrictions stripping the team of valuable aero assets from the front wing (higher) and from the rear of the floor (cut away from the rear wheels). That plays into Renault's hands.
Renault has also been aided by the new tyre rules. Last year's machine was much admired as one of the most well balanced on the grid and as such was very kind to tyres, particularly the rears. This year's car seems even more poised. With teams restricted to one set of tyres for the race - having that weapon in the armoury makes Renault a potent force.
Having a more powerful engine in the back, though, is the major step forward. The combination of a fine-tuning of the car's excellent chassis and aero package from last year and a major ramping up of power at the disposal of the drivers will give Fisichella and Alonso the chance to really fight for wins at a host of circuits this season.
Two things bore out the advantage on Sunday. The first was Fisichella's ability to establish a healthy lead while, the Italian confessed, he was still driving quite conservatively to take care of his tyres and engine. Indeed, that the Roman set the race's fastest lap in the closing stages when his tyres should have been in a state that prevented such pace proves that the Renault treats tyres very well.
The second event was Alonso's charge through the grid to third in the second half of the race. Stuck behind Jacques Villeneuve for the opening 17 laps, the Spaniard lost 25 seconds on the leaders, but once past the much slower Sauber, Alonso, via an excellent fuel strategy and some brash and aggressive driving, was able to target and realise a podium finish on a day when his race should have been over a third of the way through. Indeed, in the latter stages of the race he was one of only two drivers making headway.
The bad news, for those hoping for a Ferrari collapse this season, is that the other driver doing so was Rubens Barrichello. Reports of the Scuderia's demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Despite being handicapped by a car now inferior to their main rivals, Barrichello was able to make his run through the field in the second half of the race and push Fisichella right to the flag. Another 10 laps and we might have had a real race for the flag on our hands.
What that signals is that the Bridgestone tyres still appear to have the edge on their rivals Michelins. Proof of that pudding was offered in the performance of the Jordans on Sunday. The times posted by the team were respectable enough and consistent enough to suggest that the Bridgestones it's running gives a push it would otherwise most definitely lack.
Whither Williams and McLaren in all this? Both performed poorly on Sunday but McLaren still looks the more potent of the two. Both Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen looked competitive but were hamstrung by poor grid positions. The team feels confident that Malaysia will be kinder and insiders are bullish.
Williams, by contrast, looks to be in some degree of trouble. When David Coulthard muscled his Red Bull Racing car past Mark Webber into turn one, the presumption was that the Scot was running on the sniff of an oily rage and would quickly pit after a few showboating laps and leave Webber to race with the leaders.
That didn't happen. In fact, Coulthard's times were the match if not superior to Webber's throughout the race. If Williams' BMW engine is being bested by Red Bull's Cosworth then they may need to get back to the drawing board in double quick time.
So where does that leave us? Well, most importantly we discovered that Renault has the wherewithal to have a major crack at the title. However, we also learned that, when Ferrari gets access to its new car, the goalposts may shift significantly.
There was a great deal of goodwill floating around Albert Park on Sunday. Somewhere in that grin though was the knowledge that, with 18 races left, this is a marathon, not a sprint. And Ferrari is only just off the blocks.