Sebastian Vettel's unchallenged victory aside, a number of elements of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix went against expectations. Ferrari was slower and McLaren faster than winter testing had suggested. The moveable rear wing seemed not to make a huge difference to the racing (but might at circuits with longer straights). Nor did the new Pirelli tyres (the performance of which did not drop away dramatically, as predicted).

Perhaps the biggest shock was seeing Vitaly Petrov in third place at turn three on the first lap - and in the same position 58 laps later, to take his first podium finish. The Russian helped himself to two spots at the first turn - going up the inside of former champions Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button - and passed the other Ferrari of Felipe Massa a few hundred meters later.

Inevitably this strong performance made some wonder where Robert Kubica might have finished. The Pole - certainly one of the five best drivers in F1 - was sidelined by serious injuries suffered when he crashed a rally car in early February. So the engineers at Lotus Renault GP will be thankful that Petrov stepped up to the plate and validated the innovative design of the R31 which includes exhaust pipes running forward and blowing under the floor of the car to increase downforce.

After winning the drivers' championship with Fernando Alonso in 2005 and '06, Renault then lost its way (even after the Spaniard returned from an abortive sojourn at McLaren). It looked like it might follow BMW, Honda and Toyota in abandoning F1 in 2009 but instead it sold the team to investment gurus Gerald Lopez and Eric Lux.

The pair manage a portfolio valued in billions of dollars, principally in technology and property. They enjoy F1 (and occasionally race sports cars themselves) but the team is not a hobby. Considered as a country, the total value of all the corporations involved in F1 would rank it third of the world's economies. Unsurprising then that Lopez and Lux consider the team a highly-effective business development platform.

To some degree this explained Petrov's signing to the No 2 seat at Renault last year. As runner-up in the 2009 GP2 series (one step below F1) the 26-year old clearly deserved a shot at F1. His pace was steady rather than impressive, but his presence completely changed Russia's relationship with F1: three Russian companies - a car manufacturer, a shipyard and a vodka brand - joined the team as sponsors; television viewing figures surged by 50 percent; and a Russian Grand Prix is now very much on the cards for 2014. If Petrov can continue his progress it should be a sell out.

After a successful career on the track, Matthew Marsh now works at JMI - the world's leading motor sport marketing company. He can be reached at: mmarsh@justmarketing.com

(China Daily 03/29/2011 page22)