Not the same thing at all.When he stood atop the podium yesterday, nine years after he first came into Formula One, it was his special moment. Up and down the pit lane, you would have been hard-pressed to find anyone who begrudged him his success, especially after he had led virtually throughout after starting from pole position and had controlled the race with great panache."This was a fantastic weekend and a great way to mark my Renault debut," he said. "I have waited a long time for this."On the 47th lap, Fisichella held a lead of 12.4sec over Barrichello, but then he lost 2.6sec in one lap after being held up as he lapped Jacques Villeneuve's Sauber-Petronas, and suddenly Barrichello was a threat.As the red car drew closer, it seemed the Brazilian's Bridgestone tyres were in better shape than Fisichella's Michelins, but to add spice there was Alonso, who had started only 13th but had been driving his heart out all afternoon after he, too, had fought past Villeneuve. But perhaps we have been spoiled in recent years by the flat-out-between-pit-stops nature of the sport. There were times when the opening race of the 2005 Formula One season was more akin to the London to Brighton veteran car run, with car following car and nobody overtaking anyone. But there is a trade-off and it came in the closing stages as Giancarlo Fisichella, Rubens Barrichello and Fernando Alonso went after one another hell for leather. In the end victory went to the Italian, and it was a sweet one after all his years in the wilderness.
"As we weren't in the points we might as well take advantage of the rules and give them a new engine for next time round.". We are heading to the demise of F1 through our own bloody stupidity - too much pig-headed arrogance in all quarters."The row came to a head in Melbourne when Minardi wanted to race their 2004 cars. They then won an injunction in the Victoria high court to allow them to run the cars after the FIA had declared them illegal. The FIA responded by issuing a statement threatening the future of the Australian Grand Prix and the country's round of the World Rally Championship.Stoddart described the FIA statement as "an ill-judged, ill-timed document which I believe was created to disrupt and discredit the Minardi F1 team, the Australian Grand Prix and me"."You've got to take it to the end now," he said "Piece by piece the whole story is going to come out. Any unscheduled replacement brings a loss of 10 places on the grid. However, a driver can replace an engine without sanction if he retires from a race."At the end of the race obviously we chose to bring both cars into the pit lane," said team boss Nick Fry. I'm going to go that way now whereas before I was sitting on the fence."Meanwhile, BAR-Honda exploited a loophole in the new engine rules by retiring their cars near the end of the race.
Under new guidelines drivers must make their engines last for two whole race weekends rather than one. You've got the manufacturers - Max has completely alienated them - and they are going to go their own way Now you've got someone like me who's getting pushed. "The wounds are getting so deep now there is not going to be any healing. Mickelson, the Masters champion, was at 20 under on 196 after 54 holes, two shots in front of the world No 2.DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC (UAE) Leading final scores (GB or Irl unless stated): 269 E Els (SA) 66 68 67 68 270 S Dodd 70 65 69 66; M A Jimenez (Sp) 67 65 68 70 272 C Montgomerie 70 67 66 69 275 G Havret (Fr) 70 68 69 68. 276 N Dougherty 69 70 69 68; R Karlsson (Swe) 69 70 68 69; L Westwood 70 68 67 71 277 S Kjeldsen (Den) 70 70 68 69; D Howell 67 71 69 70 Selected: 282 I Woosnam 74 69 70 69 284 B Curtis (US) 70 71 70 73 285 S Lyle 71 70 71 73.. The Minardi owner Paul Stoddart has called for the resignation of Max Mosley, president of the FIA, the world governing body, in the wake of their row at the Australian Grand Prix. Stoddart was angered by apparent threats made by Mosley about the race's future - which Stoddart described as "pathetic" - and warned that the sport was in danger of fragmenting thanks to the political infighting between Mosley and most of the teams.Seven of the 10 teams and five of the major manufacturers are angry about Mosley's administration of F1 and are demanding changes."What we are doing here is pushing the F1 world championship to its destruction," Stoddart said.