Williams-Renault driver Pastor Maldonado of Venezuela speeds through a corner in Formula One's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 18, 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

Pundits Agree Williams Made 'Huge Leap': Despite not collecting a single point in Melbourne, the Williams team will travel from Australia to Malaysia in upbeat mood. The famous British outfit's slide from its race and title-winning days hit rock bottom in 2011, scoring just five points all season and only finishing ahead of the three struggling new teams in the constructors' championship. But Oxfordshire based Williams has restructured for the 2012 season and is now led technically by former McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan, and in Australia the newly Renault-powered FW34 qualified comfortably in Q3. In the race, Pastor Maldonado was pushing Ferrari's Fernando Alonso for fifth place when he crashed heavily on the very last lap. If he had made it round to the checkered flag, Williams would have scored more points in one hit than it managed all last season. Referring to Maldonado's crash, the team's new driver mentor Alex Wurz told Austrian ORF television: "Of course nobody is happy. "The bad news is that we have to leave with no points, but the team has made a huge leap forwards." Jaime Alguersuari, the former Toro Rosso driver turned radio co-commentator, called Williams' step compared to 2011 "giant".

F-duct Debate To Speed From Australia To Malaysia: The debate about Mercedes' controversial new 'F-duct' solution looks set to speed across the Indian Ocean. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, and particularly his Lotus counterpart Eric Boullier, had warned in Melbourne at the weekend that they might protest the qualifying and race results. They are arguing that Mercedes' technical innovation is not legal, but ultimately the 2012 season opener was run without a protest being filed. But the threat is merely on the back-burner, as Boullier and Horner seek urgent talks with the FIA and Mercedes' Ross Brawn. "We want to sit together at a table with Mercedes and the FIA and find a solution," Frenchman Boullier is quoted by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. Separately, Horner agreed: "We are expecting some pretty heated discussions in the next five days." By then, the F1 circus will be firmly based at the Sepang circuit, for the second round of the season at Sepang.

Liuzzi To Contest Italian Touring Car Series: HRT refugee Vitantonio Liuzzi has re-emerged on the grid of the Italian-based touring car series Superstars. Despite having a 2012 contract, the 30-year-old Italian lost his race seat at the struggling Spanish team HRT for this year to the well-backed Indian Narain Karthikeyan. So, in 2012, he will race a Mercedes C63 AMG - which he tested last week at Monza - in the Maurizio Flam mini-organised Superstars series. Also on the grid will be former F1 drivers Christian Fittipaldi, Mika Salo, Gianni Morbidelli and Johnny Herbert. "I'm persuaded that Superstars is a great choice to open yourself to other categories than F1," said Liuzzi. The season begins in April at Monza, then moving on to Imola, Donington, Mugello, the Hungaroring, Spa, Portimao, Vallelunga and Sentul (Indonesia). Since 2005, Liuzzi also raced in F1 with Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Force India.