One fleeting puff of smoke, otherwise not a wheel out of place. Thus Formula One’s batty new era was seized on day one, as his confident calculation suggested it would be, by George Russell.

Admittedly, there was his one lock-up in the Australian Grand Prix the Briton won comfortably and assuredly. Otherwise, he was impeccable. His mojo is high and Mercedes are quick. He carries the strut of a man who knows he is the early favourite for the title.

He was comfortably in control, managing his lead ahead of team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who also acquitted himself well.

The Ferrari cars of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, who finished third and fourth, might have loomed larger in Russell’s rear-view mirrors but for a botched strategy call. We shall return to that.

But, first Russell’s mastery in this new age of cars and engines. To the eye, these machines are nimbler, slimmer models than last year’s more muscular brutes.

So far so good. But they are made problematic by the 50-50 split between battery power and old school combustion engine A boost button, when the battery is fully charged, allows an attacking driver to deploy extra juice as he closes on his prey.

This ‘boost button’ is most effective when the pursued driver’s battery (which recharges each lap) is low on energy. It is a gimmick, but one that added some spice to the early laps of the season-opening race.

Russell, who started on pole after an equally clinical qualifying session, exchanged the lead with Leclerc six times in the first nine laps. One would click the switch and surge ahead. The other would then reclaim the advantage.

Both raced well. They were each clean, precise and respectful. However, woke and ludicrous the electrical engines might be.

You can never discount Ferrari spilling spaghetti down their shirts, and so they obliged Russell.

The slip occurred as a virtual safety car came out after Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull engine gave up the ghost. This provided a chance to be capitalised upon.

Thus, Mercedes summoned Russell into the pits to be reshod, to be reshod. It was the right move. The Ferraris, running first and third in a nip-and-tuck battle, stayed out. Error.

As Hamilton said over the radio: ‘At least one of us should have come in.’

Quite right. And why not both of them, by the way? Just as the two Mercedes had.

Russell was pitted at the end of lap 12; Hamilton not until lap 29, without the assistance of a pause in racing. By then Russell had passed Leclerc, in after 25 laps, for the lead.

The absurd explanation put forward by Ferrari after the race for their maverick strategy was they believed there could be another, more timely, safety car and they would grab the free stop then.

But why not grab the one they had. After all, there was no guarantee that an additional safety car, virtual of otherwise, would show up at a timely moment.

The decision to keep their men out saw them drop to third and fourth.

Russell, who now leads the championship for the first time in his career, said he won after a ‘hell of fight’. True, but one confined to the early stages of action. He can thank Ferrari for that fact reprieve.

It was a promising day for Hamilton, and that is a sensation he can barely remember. Still podium-free in his Ferrari career, he is determined not be so down on himself under the new regulations, a page turned.

Watched by his mother Brenda, he seemed much happier and at times three-tenths faster than Leclerc.

‘There are no mixed emotions,’ said Hamilton, speaking in the media pen afterwards. ‘I feel great. We got a third and fourth and ultimately Mercedes were quicker than us.

‘The team did a great job overall. There are lots of positives to take. A couple of more laps and I would have had Charles, so I know we can be fighting for podiums.

‘I like the new cars.’

It is too early to see if he still has what it takes, aged 41, to win an eighth world title over a gruelling, but there is a flicker of hope in the post ground-effect era.

Content that Ferrari are second quickest, and have lightning starts, with Red Bull McLaren a touch below the top two, he said: ‘We’re right in the fight. We’ve got a lot of work to do to catch Mercedes but it’s not impossible.'

A good debut by Arvid Lindblad, the 18-year-old born and raised in Virginia Water, Surrey, to a Swedish father and British Indian mother. He finished eighth for Racing Bulls, a place behind his compatriot Ollie Bearman of Haas. A good day for the Brits all around then.

But the official driver of the day was Max Verstappen, who stormed through the field from 20th to finish sixth.

Aston Martin, what a disaster. As well as Fernando Alonso’s retirement, Lance Stroll was pulled in for some changes but was 15 laps back when his agony ended. I mean, that is barely credible. The big-spending team’s dreams of the title remain as distant as Pluto.

The car is deficient, the Honda engine even worse. It vibrates so badly it was feared it might induce nerve damage. Just as paying Adrian Newey £25million a year hardly looks value for money right now, for all his genius as a designer.

PS. Half the crowd were decked out in green and gold tops and hats – or McLaren papaya – and most of the 137,869 souls were supporting home favourite Oscar Piastri.

Only snag, he did not make it to the start. The Melburnian crashed on his way to the grid, at Turn 4.

The Australian apologised to the fans, explaining a ‘big element of it that was me’, but also that cold tyres and extra power from the new engines contributed to the crash.

‘I have used that exit curb every lap of the weekend, but I didn’t have to,’ he said. ‘At the same time, I had about a hundred kilowatts of extra power that I didn’t expect, which is not insignificant.’