.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
Formula One critics were complaining in unison before the Australian Grand Prix because there hadn't been enough action in a largely processional season opener.
There were calls for urgent rules changes in the wake of the Bahrain GP, F1's first event run under the new ban on in-race refueling. But don't expect to hear much from the critics this week after the second race.
The Australian GP - won by McLaren driver Jenson Button on Sunday - provided enough daring passes, plot twists, spins and crashes to satisfy even the most jaded fan.
Button took the victory in only his second race for McLaren, having switched teams after winning the drivers championship with Brawn GP last season.
The Englishman profited from the failure of a wheel nut on the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, who ran off the track as a result while leading comfortably near the halfway mark.
It was the second race in a row that the German had an unusual equipment failure while leading, and Vettel goes to this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix with just six championship points instead of the 50 he could, and probably should, have had if not for those surprising technical glitches.
Instead, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso leads the standings with 37 points. The Spaniard, also in his second race for his new team, may well have challenged for the win in Melbourne if not for being spun around in a first-corner collision and being sent to the back of the field. His drive, from 18th place after lap one to finish fourth, was of the highest caliber.
Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa finished one place ahead of him, and is one spot behind him in the standings with 33 points. The Brazilian is back from a life-threatening accident last year, and still looks a touch below his best, having been overtaken twice in Melbourne after minor mistakes.
Button's victory was a result of two factors: He was the first driver to change from intermediate tires to slicks as the rain stopped and the Albert Park track started to dry; and he managed to drive the final 52 of the 58 laps on that same set of soft slick tires while other drivers pitted for fresh rubber.
The top four in Melbourne all followed the same strategy of keeping the same tires. Renault's Robert Kubica snatched a surprise second place by impressively holding off faster rivals, including Massa and Alonso in third and fourth.
Lewis Hamilton, Button's teammate, did change to fresh rubber, and made no secret of his anger with the decision by his team, saying it cost McLaren a one-two finish. Hamilton's sixth-place finish - he lost a spot after being rammed from behind by Red Bull's Mark Webber on the penultimate lap - and subsequent public outburst against his team came after a dismal weekend.
The British driver had been pulled over by local police for dangerous driving on the Friday before the race, then qualified disappointingly in 11th. Australia will not be high on Hamilton's list of favorite races, given that he was disqualified in 2009 and later was found to have lied to race stewards.
Webber qualified second and was trying to become the first Australian to win his home grand prix. He briefly led, but his race was compromised by being forced to go a lap too long on the intermediate tires, as teammate Vettel got the initial pit stop. His ninth-place finish came after some overly aggressive driving and off-track excursions, charging a touch too hard in front of home fans.
The surprise of the first two races has been the lack of competitiveness of Mercedes, the reincarnation of last year's title-winning Brawn GP team.
The return of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher from retirement had proven to be an anticlimax, with the German struggling to get past slower rivals and finishing 10th in Melbourne. Both in Bahrain and Melbourne, Schumacher has been outqualified and beaten in the race by teammate Nico Rosberg.
No one in F1 will be writing off a team spearheaded by Schumacher and team boss Ross Brawn, but they go to the Sepang circuit in Malaysia this weekend with plenty of ground to make up.
