Mark Webber in action Photo Jaguar Racing, Mark Thompson/Getty Images

The first race of the 2004 F1 season is in the books, so... what do you want to hear first? the good news or the bad news...

Good news first... the R5 is quick, when driven by a good experienced driver; it is even quick enough to keep up with the top teams during the race. The bad news... Jaguar Racing leaves Australia empty handed with zero points because of a gear box problem on Mark Webber's car.

The worst news, but that one isn't a surprise, is that Jaguar Racing is really still a one man team... more on that later...

Australia is the first stop on the F1 calendar and probably the most anticipated race of the season since this is when we really discover where each team stands after the long winter testing season. No more excuses, no more claims, just 20 drivers, 20 cars... 1 stop watch. well... nowadays, a full array of computerized timing equipment. Actually, this year it's a little more than 20 drivers sicne the bottom half of the teams (based on 2003 championship standings) are allowed to run a 3rd car during Friday 2 hour long sessions with a third driver. Jaguar used this new option with F1 rookie Bjorn Wirdheim behind the wheel, gathering data for the team.

The week end started very well for Jaguar with Mark Webber cracking the top 10 in both sessions on Friday only 1.5 seconds behind the World Champion Ferrari of Michael Schumacher. Same thing on Saturday with Webber getting within a second of the the German. Different story for Christian Klien, the team second driver, who languished near the bottom of the time sheets in all four practice sessions... It would get worst for the rookie who ran wide on his qualifying warm up lap and aborted his lap blaming his off road excursion on an hydraulic failure. Mark Webber on the other hand continued to impress with yet another strong qualifying lap, jumping to 6th place to the delight of the Australians crowd, ahead of both McLaren Mercedes and the Williams BMW of Ralf Schumacher. Impressive run.

By the end of qualifying, the big news was once again the impressive performance of Ferrari who had dominated all 4 practice sessions and swept the front row nearly 6/10 ahead of former Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya. Fears of a repeat of the 2002 season where Ferrari dominated its competition were clearly on the mind of team owners and F1 organizers...

It was no surprise when on Sunday afternoon, under cloudy skies and cooler temperature, the two Ferraris literally vanished into the distance with the rest of the field battling for the rest of the points. Webber lost 2 places in the first lap, down to 8th, but was able to stay in touch with the Williams BMW and remained ahead of the McLaren Mercedes until his first pit stop which came on lap 13 making him one of the last cars to refuel and proving that his qualifying pace was not due to a lighter fuel load. He would maintain his pace in 8th place during his 2nd stint but was forced to retire on lap 29 having lost 6th and 7th gear...

As a consolation, he was not the only retirement, with McLaren's Kimi Raikonen, runner up in the 2003 championship, suffering from a cooling problem and spinning out of the race, engine seized on lap 10.

Christian Klien in the R5 Photo Jaguar Racing, Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

What about Klien in the other Jaguar? he did finish the race but well off the pace in 11th spot and 2 laps down... which brings us back to Jaguar Racing still being a one man team. Sadly, it seems that Jaguar, or more accurately Ford, is still refusing to understand that the team needs two good driver, not just one. The lessons of the past years, with Dela Rosa, Wilson or Pizzonia have not been learned

Despite the fact that Jaguar is no longer in a position where it can afford to just be in Formula One. a prestigious works team like Jaguar, can't select drivers based on how much sponsorship they bring in... this is for Minardi, Jordan or even Sauber. There were a number of experienced drivers looking for seats this season and they could have helped Jaguar developed the car and bring in the points, and revenues, it needs to be credible.

As the F1 Circus leaves Australia and heads to Malaysia, speculation goes on about the future of the current qualifying format which many agree is just plain boring. The first hour session serves little purpose but setting up the running order for the second session, prompting the drivers to take it easy and not take any chances since they wouldn't have anytime to repair the car. Immediately after the race, even F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone suggest to BBC radio that a return to pre 2003 fomat was considered, where drivers had a full 60 minute session in which they ran together, limited to a total of 12 laps each. This usually resulted in edge-of-your-seat battles in the final minutes of the session between the top drivers with the cars running as light as possible. It also left the drivers in control of when to run in changing weather conditions, instead of relying on luck, or lack of, as we saw last year in Japan.

Malaysia will also help answer the question which is on everybody's mind... can Ferrari be beaten or will they be in a class of their own all season? It may be a little early to give up on a close season as Australia was only the first race of the extended 18 race calendar. Also, it was much cooler than usual which in the past has played in the hands of Bridgestone teams while Michelins had an edge on hotter tracks. Malaysia and then Barhain will be warm... so stay tuned...

Australian GP Results