In their new F2004 cars, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello showed the entire grid a clean pair of heels as they converted their front row start to a one-two finish at the first race meeting of the year. Â Â

‘Up until this afternoon the main thing on our mind had been ‘caution’,’ said Mike Copson of Shell Global Solutions ‘With so many variables like the weather, the new regulations and the very nature of the first race, we were all careful to reserve our judgement of the car’s performance but with today’s result we can all give each other a hard-earned pat on the back.’ Â Â

‘The car won on its first outing - with a new Shell fuel and a Shell new oil,’ continued Copson. ‘Of course, there is still an incredibly long way to go, but today’s one-two is the result of months of hard work - from us, our fellow technical partners and from Ferrari. A good day at the office! In fact, we are looking forward to Malaysia already.’ Â

 A cold and cloudy day in Melbourne had the paddock’s strategists scratching its heads. As the race approached, talk was of rain by the half way stage or of how the relevant tyres would stand up to these conditions that contrasted so greatly to yesterday’s heat, but as it happened, the conditions suited the Ferrari car perfectly.  Â

Michael led Rubens away from a clear start, but behind them a shuffling of the grid saw Alonso slip into third with Button, Trulli, Ralf Schumacher behind, whilst Montoya had dropped and was next in the line, behind his team mate. Â Â

The Columbian was up to sixth by the next lap, but at the head of the field, the red cars were pulling away. By lap eight, their lead over Alonso had already increased to six seconds. Â Â

It was not long however before the lead cars made the first stops of the afternoon for more fuel and tyres. In fact, nearly all the front runners had opted for three-stop strategies. Barrichello was the first of the lead duo to stop, on lap 11, with Schumacher in a lap later. Â Â

Meanwhile, out on track, last year’s World Championship hopeful, Kimi Raikkonen suffered a car failure at Turn Three, bestowing upon him the unenviable title of first race retiree. Â Â

As the Shell - powered cars continued their masterclass, the race continued behind them, almost oblivious to their dominance. Montoya continued his slow climb up the field, passing Trulli on lap 23 before the leaders all visited their garages for the second time in the afternoon. Â Â

In the third stint, Montoya claimed another scalp, that of Button, and local hero Webber retired from sixth to the disappointment of the record crowd at Melbourne. Â Â

By the time the third stops had been completed, Massa and Heidfeld had joined the list of retirements and the pace slowed as the top three conserved their cars to cruise home in formation. Â Â

Michael Schumacher won, 13.6 seconds ahead of team mate, Barrichello. Alonso claimed a laudable third, 34.6 seconds behind the German and Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Button, Trulli and Coulthard made up the rest of the points. Â Â

After a winter of development and testing, everyone was keen to see how the car performed. Similar to how a car’s engine feels after a Shell Helix service, the Ferrari team is fighting fit now and raring to go to Malaysia to try and repeat the success. Â Â

Ferrari heads the Constructor’s Championship with a perfect 18 points and Michael Schumacher and Rubens sit at the top of the Drivers’ table with ten and eight points respectively. With another 17 Formula One race meetings this year, there is a long way to go and much work to be done but they will struggle to find a better start than that which was witnessed in Melbourne today. Â