F1: Hamilton promoted to third in Australian GP

Toyota had started from the pit lane, and so technically behind Hamilton but they were, like him, able to use that to their advantage and to pick their strategy. In fact, the performance of the Toyotas and Hamilton must raise a question as to how valuable it is to be in the middle of the pack.

Whilst they did not hold back, they were not in the first corner melee that claimed bits of car from several of the front runners and sent several of the middle of the packers scurrying off onto the grass.

They were able to pick their way through the mayhem and then, as cars were strung out as a result, to pick them off one by one. And using the harder compound tyres when the track was still warm meant more heat into them. Those who thought the soft compounds would wear out fast were right, but they did not give the sprint advantage they hoped for in the first ten laps.

Toyota almost didn't make it to the start: their rear-wing was held to be illegal after qualifying. No one, it appears, had noticed that during any of the practice sessions. Or maybe it was just a secondary attempt to cause trouble after the diffuser argument had gone in Toyota's favour. Whatever the source of the complaint, the stewards agreed that it had an excessive degree of deflection, and Toyota agreed saying that they didn't understand how it happened as it had been tested with double the FIA's required load in the factory and even then met the deflection criteria.

So they worked through the night and modified the wing to the satisfaction of the stewards, prepared the cars and waited in the pit lane for the green light to come on.

Hamilton, on the other hand, had sat in the pits during qualifying wondering what was going to happen next. A blistering lap in Q1 had pushed him into a position that no one expected him to be in. But on his slowing down lap, fourth gear shredded and totalled the gearbox. Unable to get a new box fitted in time for Q2, Hamilton settled for 15th on the grid - knowing that he was going to take the drop of ten places for fitting a new one. Reconciled to starting last, he was sanguine about his position as he wandered along the wall, looking for all the world like a little boy lost. He knows that last year Massa failed to score points in his first three races but was the strongest competitor (albeit with help from stewards and the FIA) at the end of the year. This year, he knows that even Ron Dennis says that the McLaren is not quick enough.

And so, three hopefuls started off at the back of the field and, as the sun went down causing dazzle and making it difficult to see the edge of the track, the braking points and - for part of the circuit, the join between the track and the wall, the three kept up their storming pace. As rivals crashed or broke down (mostly crashing) they hoped for safety cars to bring the leaders within range.

And they were rewarded twice, once with just three laps to go. Trulli was chasing down Hamilton. Hamilton slowed for yellow flags and the safety car. Trulli slipped past.

There are warning lights in front of the driver to tell him when he is approaching yellow flags and when he has passed them. Telemetry make it clear if a driver has failed to slow down.

To be fair, it first appeared that Trulli had passed Hamilton under braking for a corner, giving him third place and, with the safety car expected to be out until the end of the race, no chance for Hamilton to fight back.. But after the event, it was discovered that he had done so in the moments after his last chance.

It has to be wondered if Trulli knew his third place was under threat. In the press conference, he could not be described as exuberant. Even in the weighing room, he was seemingly more happy for the Brawn pair than for himself.

Hamilton had no real choice but to stay behind Trulli: if he had taken his place back, history shows, there was every likelihood of a protest. The safety car stayed out until the end of the last lap and, as the cars approached the finish line, pulled into the pit lane. But the rules are that, after the safety car has pulled off, there can be no overtaking until after the start line. So even though the safety car was out of the way, Trulli held his position over the line.

Later Trulli explained that he had gone off, and Hamilton had passed him. Then after he came back onto the track, Hamilton slowed right in front of him. Trulli says he passed him thinking he had a problem "and there was nothing else I could do." With a 10 second stop - go not available to post-race decisions, he was docked 25 seconds. Because the cars were all together under safety car conditions, that meant he fell to 12th and out of the points.

Both Hamilton and Trulli had benefited from the major crash between Vettel and Kubica. From TV footage, the crash appeared to be entirely Kubica's fault: overtaking Vettel on the outside, he held a tight line making it impossible for Vettel to avoid either contact or leaving the track, or both. But the stewards took the opposite view - and Vettel agrees with them. He says that he was on worn-out tyres and that although he entered the corner first, Kubica was in front by the exit. But exhausted tyres compared to Kubica's newer and grippier set meant that he could not hold his line and therefore he hit Kubica. And what was widely seen as herioc (but dangerous) driving to keep his car going after the wheel fell off has resulted in a fine for Vettel and his Red Bull team.