David Coulthard in a McLaren broke Ferrari's Formula One stranglehold to win the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne.
The Scot started from the sixth row of the grid after a disastrous 11th in qualifying to beat home Colombia's Juan Pablo Montoya in a BMW-Williams and McLaren teammate Kimi Raikkonen of Finland.
Ferrari's five-times world champion Michael Schumacher, bidding for his fourth consecutive Australian GP victory, chased home the leading trio to finish fourth.
Schumacher, who made three trips to the pits during an eventful 58-lap 307-kilometre race, missed out on a podium finish after a stellar 2002 season where he won 11 of the 17 GPs and was placed in the other six.
It was the first time since the Italian GP at Monza in 2001 - 19 races ago - that the titan of the sport had failed to make the podium.
Ferrari dwarfed their rivals, romping away to a massive 129-point win in last year's constructors' title over BMW-Williams and McLaren, but it was McLaren's day in the first race of the new season.
It was 31-year-old Coulthard's 13th win in his 142nd GP and his second Australian GP after winning in 1997. He would have won the following year as well but was forced to obey team orders to allow teammate Mika Hakkinen to take the checkered flag in McLaren's last win in 1998.
Schumacher was in front 13 laps from the checkered flag but was forced to make an unscheduled third pit stop on lap 46 to remove a dangling carbon fibre from beneath the car while leading Montoya.
Ferrari's number two Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello's race was over on lap six after his car swiped a wall and sheared off the rear wing and right front wheel. He also failed to finish last year's race after starting off the pole.
Raikkonen, the 23-year-old Finn in his second season with McLaren, had a memorable moment on the 37th lap when he held his nerve and line to force Schumacher on to the grass when the Ferrari ace was attempting to squeeze underneath him under brakes on a turn.
Raikkonen handed over his chance for a first race win when he was hit by a drive-through penalty 18 laps from home for speeding in pit lane.
Montoya needlessly spun on lap 47, losing valuable time to allow Coulthard to hit the front.
AFP