Three new teams took to the grid today and only one of them managed to see the checkered flag. That team was Lotus who got fine drivers out of their drivers to make it round in touch conditions. Nobody expected much reliability from the new teams and when HRT and Virgin cars left the race early it came as no real shock but Lotus hung in there and made it to the finish and when their cars crossed the line the team celebrated like they had just won the race. Their go-ahead was only confirmed six months ago and so to get a car designed, built and to the finish of the first race in extremely difficult conditions in the desert marks one heck of an effort. Praise should go to their choice of driver line-up. Where the two other newcomers went for relatively inexperienced and completely inexperienced drivers, Lotus went with veterans Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli.

Another thing Lotus did which was brand new to F1 and something I’d love to see more of from the other teams, was live Twitter updates during the race. Team owner Tony Fernandes and technical director Mike Gascoyne were both Tweeting throughout the race with Gascoyne even going as far as to tell his followers that he was going to bring forward Trulli’s pit stop for soft tyres.

A breathe of fresh air to an otherwise uneventful afternoon.

Mike Gascoyne on Twitter: @MikeGascoyne
Tony Fernandes on Twitter: @tonyfernandes