Reasons to be cheerful

Phil: Anyone would think Lewis Hamilton had been sucking on a lemon for most of Sunday's Australian grand prix, to judge by his post-race demeanour. Having cocked up the start, allowing his teammate Jenson Button into a lead he never looked likely to lose, he (perhaps slightly unfairly, it has to be said) lost second place to reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel when the safety car came out. And the big picture is that he must know he once again has a car capable of winning the world championship, but that the only other man with the same car, his teammate, is already 10 points ahead.

So, just for Lewis, and with a nod to Ian Dury who went to the same school as us (yes, really!) here are some things we learned on Sunday which if he were to reflect on them for a moment might incline him not to be such a miserable sod.

1. Red Bull's domination is broken. By mid-season we may be cursing McLaren's domination, but a change in F1's prevailing wind is always refreshing to begin with. Particularly if you happen to be driving the new fastest car on the grid.
2. The midfield is closer than usual. Perez made it to 8th from 22nd on the grid. Raikkonen must have had a damn good shit before the race because he made it to 7th from 18th. A healthy number of retirements (9 out of 22 starters) kept it interesting and even without the last corner shenanigans I was struggling to keep up with who was running where.
3. Williams seem genuinely competitive. Probably both Maldonado and Senna ought to have scored points, and would have done had they avoided midfield shunts.
4. We don't need Sky after all. Apart from cutting a few laps behind the safety car, I genuinely forgot this was an extended highlights show, rather than every lap in full. This will admittedly be of limited interest to Lewis. But best of all...
5. There's another one this weekend.