Fisichella gets his day in the sun

MOTOR SPORT / Australian Grand Prix: Nine years ago Giancarlo Fisichella slotted himself into the cockpit of a Minardi in Melbourne and began a career that took him on a long day's journey into the darkest of nights. Throughout the Italian's troubled career he has found himself constantly reckoned one of the grid's most gifted performers but has constantly been hired only by teams as faded and forlorn as his hopes eventually became. Collapsing Benetton, imploding Jordan, static Sauber, all offered the Italian a home but never one fit to accommodate his talents. Justin Hynes reports from Melbourne

Two years ago in Brazil at a struggling Jordan, in a drowned, chaotic race, he lucked into a maiden grand prix win but still was left hanging on - the result only being confirmed a fortnight later at Imola. Once again Fisichella was robbed of the chance to claim glory.

Yesterday in Melbourne, his long wait for his day in the sun finally arrived and with it came warning signs for Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. Fisichella, a potent force for his new team, Renault, all weekend, led the Australian Grand Prix from lights to flag. His team-mate Fernando Alonso brought his car home third from 13th on the grid after a rain-hit first qualifying wrecked his race preparations.

As Michael Schumacher crashed out in a battle with Williams' Nick Heidfeld, team-mate Rubens Barrichello salvaged Ferrari pride with a battling, finely wrought second. But still, the message from Melbourne was clear - Renault are the current pace in Formula One.

"For the first time in my life I'm driving a car with great potential," said Fisichella afterwards. "After almost 10 years in F1, to be able to finally show my talent is great. Sure, I won in Brazil but the rest of that season was very frustrating. So this is a fantastic feeling. You know, it's my first time to celebrate the victory on the podium and I want to do it again."

In truth, Fisichella's race was, in part, won for him on Saturday in the weekend's first qualifying session. As the rain fell in irregular torrents, Fisichella was gifted the only true clear window for a qualifying run. As he crossed the line two seconds ahead of nearest rival Jarno Trulli - and fully 24 seconds ahead of the worst affected driver to set a time, Michael Schumacher - the heavens opened and gifted the Italian a platform from which he could dominate.

But without the right car those precious seconds would have counted for little. Renault's pace was confirmed in yesterday morning's second qualifying session when Fisichella was only pipped for fastest time by Williams' local hero Mark Webber - the gap: two hundredths of a second.

With the confidence of a cushion of time and the knowledge that he possessed real race pace, Fisichella dominated the grand prix from start to finish.

The pole sitter blasted away from the line and into turn one well clear of Jarno Trulli's slower Toyota, Fisichella's compatriot lucking into his front row spot in Saturday's rain.

From there the Renault driver was faultless, at last able to demonstrate the cool-headed smoothness for which he is renowned. With new rules restricting drivers to one set of tyres for the race and forcing them to use engines for two races, the constraints are obvious - those who are kind to both will profit. Fisichella is a master of both arts. Over 57 laps he was only threatened in the closing stages, his team urging him to marginally up his pace as Barrichello chased him down.

If anything, it was Alonso's race that emphasised the quality of Renault's car. The Spaniard, caught out by the rain in qualifying, was dropped to the 13th on the grid and in the race initially found himself trapped behind the Sauber of Jacques Villeneuve.

"Despite the qualifying I thought I could pass people very quickly but I found Jacques in front of me and I found myself 25 seconds down on the leaders so I think to have achieved the result I got was really good," he said.

When he did push past Villeneuve, in a sweet move in which he lulled the Sauber driver with a feint left before darting right and past on the inside to claim ninth position, Alonso scythed through the pack to claim a deserved third.

Surprise package of the day were the new Red Bull racing team, for whom David Coulthard finished fourth. The team formerly known as Jaguar looked solid and quick, their Cosworth engine, which had been so truculent with Jaguar, looking the match of Williams' BMW unit as Coulthard outpaced the chasing Webber to the flag.

And Ferrari? Michael Schumacher's hopes of a good start were destroyed by the rain. But how many times has the German ploughed through a shell-shocked field when relegated to a lowly race position? Yesterday the expected didn't happen as he struggled to compete against McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen and BAR's Takuma Sato in the nether regions of the race order. And then, on lap 43, he attempted to pass the Williams of Nick Heidfeld. Schumacher's fellow German was forced wide, lost control on the grass and t-boned Schumacher's Ferrari in mid-corner. Race over for the champion.

It was left to Barrichello to rescue points and he did so with a superb drive from 11th to second, achieved despite brake problems with his car. However, the Brazilian's pace was never as alarmingly superior as we have come to expect from the Italian team and he had to scrap and tussle with previously easy conquests to reel in the podium finish.

Ferrari expected to introduce their latest weapon at the season's fourth race at Imola. It will now surely make an earlier debut. Their opponents should brace themselves.