Yes, deep breath, F1 is back for 2015, and so motorsport for the casual viewer officially recommences. And already the toys are being thrown out of the slightly generic-looking carbon fibre pram, with Red Bull adviser (and everyone's favourite forgotten LM24 winner) Dr Helmut Marko raising the threat of the team pulling out because the current regulations will 'kill the sport'.
Is Mercedes' dominance unfair? Discuss
The fact Mercedes-Benz has made further advances with its exceptional engine, and Renault seems unable to even make an engine last for a race weekend, never mind make an engine that's powerful or driveable, has nothing to do with this, of course. Nor does the fact Red Bull's performance on Sunday means it can already write off the season as a likely fourth-place constructor at best bear any weight on what he said. No, it's for the good of the sport. Of course.
But why Mercedes-Benz naturally says 'tough luck, kumpel', maybe Dr. Marko's right. Those Mercs were so far ahead of the rest, it was a bit of a turn-off for all those bleary-eyed casual viewers to whom only the overall result matters. Racy Spice Christian Horner was more circumspect than Marko but did make a good point - F1 needs some equalisation moves to stop the Silver Arrows running away with another season. No point telling the other teams to just do a better job, because rules dictate there's only so much they're allowed to do: Mercedes-Benz has a massive advantage that's now effectively sealed into the regulations, and so perhaps those regulations need to reflect this with some balancing up.
Red Bull behind the best in Melbourne
It's happened in the past, said Horner: banning trick exhausts, banning double diffusers, banning McLaren's genius 'second brake pedal' (after expose by photographer Darren Heath): why should it be different this time, argues Horner. The simplest way would be with an engine power equaliser - sort of an 'electronic wastegate' - that would even out power between all the engines, without impacting on their efficiency, driveability or other characteristics. The best engine would still have an advantage - but the bald advantage (or deficit) wouldn't be quite so stark.
It's certainly a talking point. Such equalisations are not uncommon - BTCC's success ballast, GTE sportscars' Balance of Performance - but hardly following the spirit of engineering purity, where doing the best job gets you the best rewards (although that arguably disappeared from F1 years ago...). Whatever your views, we're going to be hearing plenty more of it: there are another 19 races to go between now and the end of November...
Fifth an incredible result for Sauber
One F1 team that's certainly had a tough weekend is Sauber - what with the court case, the three contracted drivers into two cars, the threat of its assets being seized if it wasn't all sorted out to the judge's satisfaction, that sort of stuff. All eyes were thus on the FIA press conference during Friday practice, as team boss Monisha Kaltenborn was due to attend. Admirably, she did too, despite having to dash from court to get there.
So full credit to Kaltenborn, who at one point during the court proceedings was said to have faced prison if things weren't sorted out, for batting off one of the most ridiculous questions of the weekend - do you plan to resign over the mess? Of course not: why should she? Clearly the Sauber legal team has got itself into a wrangle, but that's nothing new for F1. That it's all on her watch is far from ideal - but she has also saved the team from long-rumoured failure, against expectations, and also overseen the creation of a pretty quick and tidy car that scored a top-five position with young new starlet Felipe Nasr. A team in turmoil shouldn't perform nearly so well - so, why should plucky Sauber's embattled boss be singled out with such a daft leading question? Would the same be asked of any other team boss?
Views are still split on Formula E it seems
The latest round of Formula E was helped this weekend in Miami, with Nicolas Prost doing the old man proud once again with a tight victory over one-time F1 racer Scott Speed. Close racing, lots of battles, plenty going on all the time: dream new race series, surely?
Well, PHers are undecided. The series seems contrived, the cars sound like speedy milk floats, they don't seem very quick, a multitude of rules is confusing and, well, there's simply not enough noise to keep everyone awake (apart from the hideous music during replays...). But maybe it's time to show a bit of interest: after all, it's five rounds into the 11-round launch series - and the final round is going to be held in London this coming June. A potential series decider of an FIA world championship coming to Britain? Got to be worth a second look, no?