Even on the first day of the Australian Grand Prix meeting, Melbourne's Albert Park track has challenged Formula 1 in a way that the season's opener in Bahrain could never do.
It rained. And there was a series of incidents that if they'd happened during the race instead of practice would each have called for the safety car, a random element that can mix the field at a stroke.
This street circuit, with its temporary concrete walls ringing the lake, is unforgiving to those who stray off line - in stark contrast to the expansive run-off areas at Sakhir.
A forecast of further afternoon showers on Saturday and Sunday means qualifying and the race could provide the thrills that were in such short supply in the Middle East.
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After the final dress rehearsal for the Formula 1 season in Barcelona, where it was cool and frequently wet during testing, the curtain has gone up at the first race in Bahrain on a very different stage.
Temperatures are some 30C higher than they were in Spain. The track has been extended to almost four miles and the main players are ever closer to revealing their true colours in race trim.
The ban on refuelling has transformed preparations. Practice has become even more loaded with variables, and even more difficult to read - carrying an extra 50kg of fuel can make a difference of more than two seconds per lap around the Sakhir circuit.
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When Patrick Head talks, you listen.
"Everybody keeps coming up and asking who's quickest, as if we should all know the answer," said Williams's director of engineering during a break in the final pre-season test session in Barcelona.
"But I don't know the answer. Nobody knows the answer, and isn't that the whole point? We're all waiting to see what's going to happen, who's going to be fastest at the first race and the rest of the year."
Analysing testing times ahead of a new Formula 1 campaign is a well established ritual which never fails to turn up the level of anticipation.
But there look to be as many as seven teams on a competitive curve for the opening races.
Ferrari and McLaren appear to have their noses in front of Red Bull and Mercedes, with Williams, Force India and the reborn Sauber team on their tails.
So the 2010 season, the start of Head's fifth decade in F1, promises to be one of the most compelling contests he's ever been involved in, stirring memories of the great days of Mansell, Prost, Piquet and Senna in the late 1980s.
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Jonathan Legard commentated on Formula 1 for the BBC in 2009 and 2010. He wrote regular blogs during that period, giving a behind-the-scenes insight into the grand prix weekends. Jonathan, previously 5 live's football correspondent and before that the radio station's F1 correspondent, is no longer part of the BBC's F1 team.
