Kinky Kylie, Chandhok crashes, no HRT yet

As action kicked off under cloudy Melbourne skies, it emerged that new world champion Sebastian Vettel has finally dreamed up a name for his 2011 ride.

The British press speculated that the unofficial name for his new Red Bull - Kinky Kylie - is a nod to Australian pop star Kylie Minogue.

Referring to his RB7 rather than the singer, Vettel confirmed: "It has a tight butt, is supple and is good to look at."

On more serious matters, Jarno Trulli will have cringed when Friday test driver Karun Chandhok crashed his Team Lotus car within three corners of his outlap early on Friday.

The Indian driver hit the wall hard after losing control of the T128 under power. "I don’t know what happened, I just lost it," he said on the radio as team figures shook their heads.

Team Lotus later confirmed that there had not been a technical failure, and that it should be prepared for Trulli by the start of the second session.

Chandhok did cover more metres than his former team HRT, with Narain Karthikeyan milling about wearing jeans and not scheduled to drive at all in the initial session.

Vitantonio Liuzzi, at least wearing his overalls, was more hopeful: "Hopefully we will get out at least one car to get some data, and then for the second session have both cars," he told Australian broadcaster One.

The Italian joked that "every flight landing in Melbourne" at present contains parts of the Cosworth-powered F111, adding that: "We should be 100 per cent on the track for tomorrow".

Ultimately, neither contender made it onto the track, but the struggling team will at least be able to continue working overnight, thanks to the FIA rule allowing four exceptions per season to the mechanics’ curfew.