It has to be said that we've had a good run in Melbourne when it comes to weather. This is the first time that we've had rain in the six years that we've been here, so we can't really complain. But for the first qualifying session of a new season, to have an abbreviated qualifying session such as we had in Melbourne has to be a disappointment.

We were all so looking forward to something somewhat better. We had seen how quick the Ferraris were and were just waiting to see if anyone could do anything about them. The question, of course, was never answered, which is somewhat frustrating. But boy, have we been impressed by those red cars.

There's much talk about the 'old' Ferraris but they are substantially developed from what we saw last year here. They are more like the cars that we saw in Suzuka at the end of the year. Of course, the team knows them intimately, which makes it that much easier to tune them to the circuit. And no doubt the weather did, in some way help.

But Ferrari don't really seem to have done that much homework - perhaps they haven't needed to. Not surprisingly, the drivers were in fine form, Rubens paying tribute to his rain luck once again. Every one of his four poles have been rain affected over the years, so not surprisingly, he quite likes dodgy rain sessions such as we had today.

And once again - as last year - he seems to be reasonably close to Michael's pace. This time last year he wasn't far away from Michael, and that continued for several races, but then the gap began to open up. It will be interesting to see if he can maintain the pressure.

What about the opposition? It's been a shame that we haven't really had a proper qualifying session, because we haven't been able to see who might be the closest challenger. Needless to say, it looks like Williams and McLaren will be there again but in which order? David Coulthard will be happy to have qualified ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. I'm pretty sure that McLaren qualifying will be a problem for him this year.

Montoya finds himself behind both McLarens, while both the Italians have done a good job, Trulli ahead of Fisichella, and Renault looking as thought they are going to be slightly more competitive than expected. Giancarlo, however, has done a good job for Jordan, even if the team has been disrupted by Sato's problems.

Didn't Massa do a good job, outqualifying teammate Heidfeld. And Panis was ahead of Villeneuve. Salo has put the Toyota into 14th in its first race which certainly isn't bad. Jaguar is a disaster, but then they did expect to suffer from lack of downforce.

Meanwhile, Max Mosley's proposals to reduce costs look as though they will attract a certain amount of support when the team principals meet on March 19. His proposals included limiting entries to one engine per weekend, with a penalty regarding grid positions if a second engine has to be used; race weekends cut to two days with the Friday featuring testing but no competitive timing; and manufacturers having to supply two teams each.

Clearly, there are various people who are opposed to some and part of the proposals, but everyone is behind at least one of them. There is much discussion to come but things could change in the next couple of seasons.

Meanwhile, even the inclement weather cannot dampen the Aussie enthusiasm, and this is still one of the best Grands Prix in the world. But there's just a day to go; and it's going to be a great one!

Bob Constanduros