Aside from
McLaren,
Williams was the only outfit to register a double-points finish in the season curtain-raiser, with
Nico Rosberg earning a well-deserved maiden podium finish in third spot and team-mate
Kazuki Nakajima ultimately being classified sixth, leaving the multiple championship-winning Grove-based concern sitting second in the constructors' standings. Having now developed a taste for celebration champagne, the young German clearly wants more, whilst the Japanese GP2 Series graduate is keen to make further progress in what will be just the third grand prix of his fledgling
F1 career.
Renault's general mediocrity Down Under was saved only by
Fernando Alonso's combative brilliance and unwillingness to ever say die – an approach that earned the Spaniard former double world champion fourth place in Melbourne, though similarly exceptional circumstances apart he is unlikely to repeat that feat in Sepang, let alone replicate his 2007 victory there. Rookie team-mate
Nelsinho Piquet, meanwhile, will surely be happy simply to have a more competitive outing than that which he endured on his grand prix debut last weekend, when the young Brazilian began from the last row of the grid and ran towards the back of the field before retiring with accident damage just over halfway through.
Toyota may have left Australia empty-handed, but the big budget Japanese manufacturer at least had the satisfaction of
Jarno Trulli's strong run up in the top six in the race's early stages. Team-mate
Timo Glock was somewhat less fortunate still, crashing out spectacularly on lap 43, but the Cologne-based squad seems nevertheless to be in for a brighter time of things than was the case last year, should the TF108's early performance and development be sustained.
