World’s press hails end of F1 boredom

The world’s press hailed Sunday’s Australian grand prix as the perfect antidote to the lambasted ’Bore-rain’ season opener two weeks ago.

After Bahrain, some sections of the media - as well as fans, drivers and the teams - even called for immediate rules changes, with the thinner tyres, sophisticated double diffusers and the refuelling ban blamed for the procession.

"Just when it was most urgently needed, the 26th Australian grand prix delivered a race that justified the existence of formula one," said Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

The Daily Mail admitted that the reaction after Bahrain, with forecasters predicting a whole season of tedium, had been hasty.

"You may have read such doom-laden nonsense here after the last race in Bahrain, but that verdict is now subject to partial revision. This was a riot of action," read the article.

The Times said there was "more action in two minutes in Melbourne than in two hours in Bahrain", while the Telegraph enthused: "Boring? Who said anything about boring?"

Mercedes’ Norbert Haug said Melbourne had been "probably one of the best ever" in F1’s history, and the New York Times agreed that it was at least "one of the most exciting in the past decade".

The Bloomberg news service said F1 "revved back into life" in Australia, while Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport observed that the sport had gone from "Formula Yawn to a Blockbuster".

Said Spain’s El Pais: "This grand prix is dedicated to all those who, after the first race, screamed to the sky about today’s F1."

The BBC agreed that "the obituaries were premature" after Bahrain, but Canada’s La Presse urged F1’s fickle observers to "wait a little" before so quickly saying all of the problems are now solved.

Fernando Alonso summed it up: "Now maybe we won’t talk about boring races anymore — for one week at least."