IT'S ABOUT TIME; Giancarlo Fisichella takes a dominant season-opening win.(Motorsports)

Byline: ALAN HENRY

Mark it down in the history books. Michael Schumacher not only failed to finish the Formula One season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, but the multiple world champion's Ferrari F2004M was never a contender. For once, Schumacher was a bit player, consigned to the back of the starting grid after a heavy rain shower nearly flooded the track in Saturday's first qualifying session. On race day, contact with another car produced a spin, and Schumacher was out of the race.

While Schumacher was floundering, Giancarlo Fisichella decisively confirmed the Renault R25's pre-season testing form by producing a dominant win at Albert Park, starting from the pole to beat Rubens Barrichello in the surviving Ferrari. Barrichello had climbed from 11th on the grid, finishing ahead of Fernando Alonso in the other Renault, from 13th at the start.

For Fisichella, this dominant performance might represent a significant career breakthrough. Though it comes rather late for this veteran of 141 grands prix, it was a masterly performance played out at the front of the field. Fisichella used his Michelin rubber brilliantly, and this is one of the most crucial elements in the F1 car performance package, now that one set of tires must last a competitor throughout both qualifying sessions and the race. In that respect, it stood in spectacular contrast to Fisichella's sole previous win in the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, where the result was only confirmed 10 days later.

Schumacher's demise came with 15 laps to go as he was battling for eighth place with Williams' Nick Heidfeld, who ran into the back of Schumacher under braking for the tight right-hand Turn Three. Both cars spun into the gravel trap on the outside of the corner, and though Schumacher managed to extricate his car with the assistance of nearby marshals, the Ferrari's rear end was slightly damaged, and he limped back to the pits to retire for the day. "With this type of thing, there are always different opinions,'' said Schumacher, "and mine is that it is impossible to blame either one of us. I saw him behind me just as I came out of the pits, and I made it clear I was defending my position.''

Heidfeld was less philosophical about the whole episode. "I think I made a good move,'' he said. "Michael came out of the pits and obviously had a bad exit from the first chicane, because he wasn't on the ideal line. I went alongside him, and I could have outbraked him, but he didn't leave me any space and pushed me onto the grass where braking is obviously impossible.''

Intermittent heavy rain during Saturday's first qualifying session scrambled the grid order by the time Sunday morning's second-session times had been aggregated to determine the overall starting lineup. One of the beneficiaries of this chaos was David Coulthard, who qualified the Red Bull RB1 a fine fifth and then lunged up to third at the first corner. The Scot then drove brilliantly to finish fourth, just ahead of Mark Webber in the Williams-BMW (Webber had left Jaguar before it was sold to Red Bull to sign with Williams).