There's still something special about Albert Park. Forget what the tree-huggers would have you believe, this place was pretty rough and run down when the F1 Circus first pitched up here. Now, it's a great and ever-popular part of Melbourne. The city, not exactly unused to big events (Australian Open tennis, MotoGP, Melbourne Cup, cricket, etc.) just buzzes in a way that the middle east events never will.
It's funny. 24 hours on a plane (BA shirkers permitting) to arrive here feels so much better than 13 hours to get to Shanghai. The sad part is that one of the best GP's is gone so early in the season.
Still, looking ahead, we could have some of the protests we didn't get in Bahrain now that the FIA have issued a 'clarification' about diffusers and how big a hole a team can have for access to the starter system. The affected teams, believed to be Mercedes, McLaren, Force India and Renault, will all have to make some modifications and, if they feel hard done by, may take umbridge about how other teams have interpreted the rules.
At least if it does kick off, it will make the sport exciting again. The last thing F1 needs now is another dull race. Perhaps the build up was too much and expectations were too high, but coming off the back of three ever-more exciting seasons, we've all come to expect to proper racing.
Anyway, enough for now. Need to do some digging and hope some of the bleary-eyed, fresh off the plane team members let something slip!
