David Coulthard apologised to Alex Wurz for the clash that took them both out of the race.

“My fault,” Coulthard said. “I went too deep into the corner and you can’t blame Alex for that.”

Is it worrying that it is startling to hear a racing driver admit his own culpability?

lewis_australia.jpgLewis Hamilton was understandably delighted to finish on the podium on a sensational F1 début that saw him getting ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso and into third place at the first corner, leading the race for four laps when Kimi Raikkonen pitted, and matching Alonso’s pace for much of the race.

“It has been fantastic,” admitted a delighted Hamilton. “To lead my first GP was a fantastic feeling. I had Fernando behind me for a long time and it’s pretty tough when you have a two-time champion behind you, especially in the first race.

Hamilton was the first rookie driver to stand on the podium since Jacques Villeneuve in 1996.

Renault boss Flavio Briatore was busy criticising Heikki Kovalainen - another driver making his début in Melbourne - after the race.

“Kovalainen had a horrible race,” Briatore told RAI after the race. “You need to be realistic: he did almost everything wrong.

“Of course he’s a rookie but so is Hamilton so in these two weeks before the next race he needs to change his attitude and try to do better, because he has the capability to do it.

“Nothing went right today: pitstops, everything else. Not good.”

Kovalainen accepted the criticism and admitted that his race performance was not good.

“This may have been my Grand Prix début, but to be honest, there is very little to remember from it - and lots to forget,” said the Finn after finishing in 10th position.

“I didn’t have a great race: there were too many mistakes, and my performance just wasn’t controlled enough,” Kovalainen, who survived a high-speed spin during the race, added.

“I had hoped to be able to move up through the field and gain positions. Straight away from the start, though, I was struggling even to hold on to other cars.”

Renault will be hoping for a better result in Malaysia…

And lastly, Super Aguri driver Anthony Davidson has been taken to hospital following his clash with Adrian Sutil, after complaining of back pain. Davidson finished the race in 16th place.