2012 Sporting Memories: Austrailian Grand Prix

Okay, so I could hardly miss out the curtain-raising race in the 2012 Formula One season, could I? Well, I haven't, and more so, it helps that the race was an absolute peach.
The opening race of any Motorsport series is of course, riddled with excitement, but non-more so than the Australian Grand Prix, the spiritual home of the sports opening race weekend. The 2012 edition was certainly worthy of that title, with a whole host of factors going into the race gripping audiences, teams, fans and drivers alike, and creating a sense of tension and anxiety in and around F1 that can only really be matched by the final, and normally title deciding race of the season.
Even tuning into the event on your TV, was interesting enough in itself, with the BBC and Sky going head-to-head for the first time in terms of broadcasting. For me, I decided to ride the waves of change and go with Sky's all-new coverage. I wasn't disappointed.
Back to the on-track antics, and a soon established pecking order to came to the fore, with McLaren leading the way. Red Bull, without the blown-diffuser as banned for 2012, struggled with their contender early-doors, but nothing compared to Ferrari, who's pre-season testing fears were confirmed at the first race, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa finding themselves over 2.5 seconds off of the pace in Qualifying. Drama already.
Race day itself, summoned millions of U.K viewers to set their alarms for early-Sunday morning, in preparation for lights-out down under. With McLaren front-row, the end result looked ominous.It wasn't. Pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton found himself in second behind teammate Jenson Button after a poor get away, but clear of the rest of the competing field. At this point... ENTER Sebastian Vettel, who despite a evidently under developed car, was in third. Introduce and timely safety car period and a fortunately timed pit stop for the German amd yes, you've got it, Vettel's rub of green got him ahead of Hamilton's McLaren and into second. Come the end of the race however, neither the Red Bull of McLaren driver could do nothing about the victorious Button.
Somehow, Alonso dragged his pig-of-a-car to a fourth place finish, and in doing so would set the tone for a number of staggering drives in a genuinely poor car, for the rest of the season.
With DRS and KERS providing a whole host of overtaking moves throughout the field, the race left Martin Brundle and David Croft breathless in the Sky Sports commentary box, and myself very much awake and smiling in the early hours of an early Sunday morning back in the U.K.
A great race, and one that stood out for me looking back on a year of sport in 2012. Roll on F1 2013.