Jenson had a cup of coffee on the beach this afternoon before starting the Australian Grand Prix and from listening to his podcast he sounds quietly confident that there’s more Melbourne style performances to come in ‘09.

And why not – Jenson has proven over the years that he’s a good driver and he’s well regarded as an excellent one amongst all of the F1 circus. To have decent car under him for only the second year out his nine years in the sport is unfortunate, but given some decent equipment he’s proven today that he has what it takes to run at the front and command a race from start to finish.

All in all, today was a glorious start to what could well be a glorious year for “our Jense.” Is it too early to say a championship is a definite? Yes. But it’s not too early to say that’s likely he will be in the fight and that he’s a serious contender.  From Melbourne alone it seems that Vettel, Kubica and Alonso will not be far behind and of course Rubens in the other BrawnGP cannot be ruled out (as long as he stops barging other cars).   That said, nothing stays the same for long in F1 and today saw an exciting race with plenty of overtaking with genuine fights between different cars and drivers throughout every one of the fifty eight laps.

The Badger is pleased that not even the biggest F1 critic could say that this race was just cars going around in circles.  2009 has all the ingredients to be an epic year in the sport’s history.

Formula 1 isn’t boring.  Read our race report here

You can read Badger’s pre-season profile of Jenson here and then listen to his race day diary here and visit his website here.