Mobile ESPN’s Chetan Narula says Force India’s double finish at the Australian GP promises much for the season.

What a big bang start this has been for the Formula One season in Melbourne. Many expected the two Brawn cars to make history, given their pace, but only if they proved reliable enough given their lack of testing and provided nothing untoward happened.

In the end, with the McLaren engines demonstrating their resilience, and despite Button-Barrichello trying too hard to throw it all away, Brawn GP somehow managed to cross the finish line one-two, becoming the first new entrant to the championship since Mercedes-Benz in 1954 to do so.

Add to it the fact that Red Bull, Williams and Toyota harrowed them all the way to the Chequered Flag; McLaren and Renault were just too slow, and Ferrari and BMW self destructed. The new season may only be one race old but the fans are gluttony for more!

Talk about Force India and Vijay Mallya must have celebrated on Sunday night like a father blessed with twins. No, they didn't win any points just yet but it was a solid push in the very first race for that elusive target they set for themselves.

A double finish, Adrian Sutil came home ninth and Fisichella drove in at 11th, in the season opener where two Ferraris, one each of BMW, McLaren and Renault didn't finish, is no mean feat!

The Force India drivers actually finished tenth and twelfth, respectively, but Jarno Trulli's Toyota was penalized for a second time in two days and hence the one place promotion. Nursing their cars home might pay up even more on April 14, for that is the day the FIA Court of Appeal rules on the ‘diffuser row'.

If somehow it doesn't go the way of Brawn, Toyota and Williams, then Force India may just have their first - very lucky - points.

But it really wasn't all luck for the two cars. They had their moments; Sutil was involved in the first lap crash triggered by Barrichello and pitted to get that ugly monster of a front wing replaced. Having dropped to the rear of the field as a result, the German nevertheless drove a measured, consistent race from then on, to claim his best result in over a year.

Fisichella was more colorful. Running fourth when the first safety car was deployed, he looked set to score his team's first F1 points before a blunder in the pits cost him yet again. The Italian missed the stop lollipop and the Force India crew had to manually push him back to the pit box and the precious time lost saw him rejoin the race in only the 14th position.

All in all, it did turn out well for them in the end, and things should only progress from here. By that one doesn't mean that they will be scoring points in Malaysia, far from it. Melbourne was the usual narrow street circuit with little run-off areas, no real rubber on the ‘track' and wheel-to-wheel racing just a shade pronounced with the new rule changes working.

On return to regular circuits like in Kuala Lumpur, the usual suspects Ferrari and BMW, et al, are expected to do much better and they themselves will be keen to bounce back from the debacle in Albert Park.

Sadly that leaves Force India to try and etch out the gremlins in qualifying, if they are to improve on traditional circuits and not wait around for the next street race to come.

In Australia, neither Sutil nor Fisichella could get into Q2 and that is something that might only be rectified with the European leg kicking off at Barcelona on May 10, when the KERS equipment comes on with its extra 80 bhp.

Till then, the two drivers should be mighty relieved that Mallya is happy, for all of us here in India, we know that he is a hard man to please!