I knew it was going to be an awesome Formula 1 weekend when, during the first 15-minute round of qualifying, the racing gods gave me Kimi Raikkonen's full tranny/suspension failure. I laughed like an evil maniac for a good three minutes. Adam gave it a lusty "HAH!" but I had to cackle. F1 was back, and in a good way.

The new qualifying format's brilliant. I like the old school free-for-all. I like the fuel regulations. I like watching the drivers fall into place without the mental gymnastics of the flying lap qualifying. It was exhilerating to watch the Saturday session and be excited for the race, instead of being a touch bored.

My hat off to the FIA for that one.

Going into qualifying, I wasn't sure about the new V8s (or, in the second Red Bull team's case, the restricted V10s) or the new aero packages, but after qualifying, I came away convinced it will still be a good season. The engines, while not having that same brutish note as the V10s, sound good. The aero packages are interesting-looking at the very least, especially when they're ripping themselves to pieces.

(Really? I'm not going to tire of playing that image of Raikkonen's crash for at least a week. It's just very "Welcome back to F1. Here's something you've missed: a McLaren eating itself.")

And then, oh, man. The race. Was. Exciting. And I don't even know how much of it can be chalked up to changing tires, though that battle for first between Alonso and Schumacher, setting the tone for the season, I think. Upstart verses seasoned veteran, and it was decided in the pits.

And then, Raikkonen did his normal 19 place climb to the third step of the podium, and looked completely hung-over afterwards, which, well, we can't ask for two catastrophic suspension failures in one race weekend, I guess.

I was disappointed Jensen Button didn't hang onto that third position, but he did struggle during the opening laps of the race, it looked like, and I wonder if Rubens Barichello would have passed him if his third gear hadn't dropped out halfway through.

And then there was Montoya, just plunking away in fifth place, with none of the glory or recognition of his teammate. How long do you give the guy in the sport before he picks up and walks away entirely? A season? Two?

Mark Webber's sixth place finish pleased me, of course. I'd rather like to see him on the podium again, but sixth is admirable after the dreadful season last year. Jack Villanuve's flameout made me smirk. Can't you just imagine Frank Williams ringing up Mario Theisan and singing the Suck It Song?

Yeah, me too. And DC passing Heidfeld just underscored it.

Nico Rosberg aquitted himself quite well for a rookie, dotcha think? Williams needs another technical driver, especially after switching to the Cosworth power plant, and I expect Rosberg will be able to give his engineers the feedback they'll need to improve the car over the year. And, as much as it pains me, I expect he'll be out-performing teammate Webber before the mid-season mark. The kid is just fast.

My one quibble with today's broadcast was the zero coverage of Scott Speed's debut, but I suppose we can mark this up to the world feed. How is some local director in Bahrain supposed to know a house in Albuquerque wanted to see the second Torro Rosso car?

Still, I'll hand it to Speed, he did well out there. He beat the Toyotas in what is basically a Minardi. And I'll hand it to Red Bull, their American Driver Search wasn't a bunch of hype, but has put a California kid behind the wheel of an F1 car.

Malasyia, my favorite circuit on the calendar, is on Saturday night. The drought's over, thank god.