FORMULA ONE: David Coulthard atop the podium, Juan Pablo Montoya flanking him in second, Kimi Raikkonen third. No Ferrari in the top three, no Michael Schumacher hoisting a trophy. On the basis of the bare facts of yesterday's Australian Grand Prix, Formula One's grand reinvention appears to be a feat accomplished.

Indeed, as an isolated spectacle, it presented as good an advertisement for Formula One as the under-pressure sport could have wished for. Appearances and advertisements are often deceptive, however, and if this is the shape of things to come this season, the outline is still somewhat fuzzy.

Ferrari qualified one-two, with Michael Schumacher taking his 51st career pole. He led in the closing stages and had he not had a problem with his barge boards would have at least claimed a podium position.

Even when he was forced by marshals to pit to have the damaged boards removed as they constituted a hazard and to take on fuel, Schumacher's times did not drift hopelessly. Instead, over the closing 10 laps he pushed his ailing car to within a second of third-placed Raikkonen and crossed the line still pressuring the McLaren driver and Williams' Montoya in second.

The Ferrari hegemony (stretching back 53 races to September 1999 at the Nurburgring - the last time a Ferrari driver failed to appear on the podium) may have been broken yesterday, but as new regimes go, the McLaren/Williams axis looks pretty fragile, founded as it was on clever tactics, good fortune and early-season uncertainty. Only this time the insecurity was compounded by new rules that disrupted stratagems.

It will take many races before patterns emerge, before teams come to terms with the new rules.Judgment of the reinvention will have to wait until order has been restored.

As an opening gambit, however, yesterday's race was as good a move as any. Any of the top four had the chance to win and the race eventually went to perhaps the least deserving of a closely matched quartet as human error took its toll .

How long is it since Formula One has been able to say that?

For Jordan-Ford, meanwhile, it was a tale of promise revealed and ambitions dashed as the EJ13 proved capable of matching the pace of others but failed to make the chequered flag.

Rookie Ralph Firman started well and rose to eighth, a point-scoring position, by lap six but then suffered oversteer and hit a barrier.

Giancarlo Fisichella was 18th after a first-lap error, then climbed to ninth but suffered technical problems after being hit by debris and had to stop before the end.

Early in the race, It was Montoya who had the upper hand. He stayed on dry tyres while rivals struggled on intermediates, and claimed the lead after seven laps.

A troubled stop on lap seven for dry tyres saw champion Michael Schumacher drop away but he battled back over the next dozen laps and when Montoya pitted for tyres and fuel during the race's second safety car period on lap 17 (to facilitate the removal of Mark Webber's stranded Jaguar following an earlier intervention when Jordan's Ralph Firman hit the wall), Schumacher sailed past, though only to second.

Up ahead was McLaren's Raikkonen, whose arrival at the front was the cue for a titanic battle for 11 laps with Schumacher.

Schumacher, though, was forced to abandon the battle on lap 29 as he steamed into the pits for his first fuel stop. Raikkonen followed four laps later and the pair had to watch as Montoya restaked his claim for the 10 points.

The Williams driver would need to stop again but with a handful of laps before he next required fuel, Montoya was looking good as he opened the gap to over 18 seconds.

Meanwhile, Raikkonen was penalised for speeding in the pit lane during his pit stop on 33. His drive through the pits on lap 39 robbed the Finn of victory.

An excursion over the kerbs that had initially seemed innocuous for Schumacher took on sinister dimension as, first, his left bargeboard tumbled away and then the right collapsed under the car, causing marshals to show the orange and black flag. He dropped back and Montoya retook the lead.

Not for long. Within two laps the Colombian was second, spinning off in turn two and later admitting: "I simply went sideways when I picked up the throttle - it was absolutely my fault."

And that was the cue for David Coulthard to profit from the errors and calamities ahead. The Scot cruised into the lead and calmly picked up his 13th career win.

"I didn't actually overtake many people out on the track," he said sheepishly. "But we can gloss over that. It's a great result and I'm very happy for the team knowing that we're not quite as competitive on outright speed as Ferrari, but in races like that, where there is an element of good fortune and also where there are decisions to be made on strategy, then we can feel quite satisfied."

And it is in that admission of good luck that the true tale of the Australian Grand Prix is told. The rules have shaken up the grid, but ultimately power still rests with the big three. And of those Ferrari is still the major player. It was circumstance that gave the spoils to McLaren and Williams yesterday. Circumstances change.