The qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix is tonight at 11 (in this timezone) but the drama has started already. As usual it’s mostly off the track.

We’ve had Bernie being snarky all week, threatening to take F1 out of Australia if they don’t make it a night race. I expect he will get his way in the end, as they already capitulated a bit by moving the start time to three hours later. All he’s interested in is getting his races shown in Europe during prime time, he doesn’t seem to understand that it’s a World Championship and there are plenty of other fans beside the European ones.

The big news from Mclaren is that they sacked Mike Coughlan. Not exactly a shocker; what’s strange to me is why it took so long. The scandal has been raging for almost a year and they waited until the start of the new season to fire him. Supposedly this is due to “legal reasons” but I can’t imagine these teams having employment contracts without some kind of get-out clause.

Things are no less predictable on the track. Kimi took the first practice and Lewis took the second. I think we all know where the battle for the lead will be this year. The midfield fights are going to be where the excitement is though; I hope the TV directors realise that.