THINK of this yarn like a quick trip to the local Thai joint around the corner.

You know, the one you probably wouldn’t go to on a hot date, but would absolutely visit in a heartbeat when you realise the contents you’d originally planned for dinner had gone a bit.. off and all you wanted was a decent Satay beef with rice.

This is ‘the takeout’ – Mark Walker’s quick blast around some of the key drivers, events and moments that made the Formula 1 weekend in Melbourne.

All the non-F1 talk prior to the Grand Prix revolved around Supercar Championship points being awarded for the first time at Albert Park.

There were some mixed thoughts from the drivers I spoke to prior to the weekend regarding how the event would unfold.

“We’ve seen some cracker racing, some big lunges and big battles (in the past) because it has been non-championship; if there was a fifty-fifty (passing move opportunity), you generally took it and see what happens,” said Jamie Whincup.

“That’s not the case this year… it’s now the same as every other round, go as hard as you can, and make sure that you finish.”

The flipside to that was Chaz Mostert, who said – “It doesn’t really change anything from any previous year here, we always race for sheep stations, and even if we were racing for a slice of pizza, I’m pretty sure all 26 drivers out there would fight hard for it.”

The verdict – I don’t think anything really changed from a driving standpoint, the races were all high quality, although there’s more on that in the following point.

I do however think there was a change was from the team’s perspective – they were more conservative, not using the event as a test session with radical new parts or taking massive swings at setup in full view of the world.

How good was Saturday night’s third Supercars race of the weekend?

Mix in a wet track, darkness, wildly varying strategy gambles, and a first-time race winner under immense pressure from the seven-time champion, the recipe was spot on.

If there were no points on the line, would Whincup have thrown it down the inside on the last lap for a win? We will never know.

I’m not necessarily a Scott Pye fan, but to see his genuine raw emotion post-race was utterly brilliant.

Also, listening to Neil Crompton in commentary smashing the call on the rev limiter is as good as it gets.

The public isn’t served that level of excitement if the race isn’t deserving, top stuff.

Craig Baird – still got it.

Bairdo delivered a two-win smack down on a high-class Australian GT Championship Pro field, including former AGP winner Giancarlo Fisichella, and three-time Le Mans 24 victor Marcel Fässler.

“I sort of got really motivated in qualifying, the car was good, and I’ve always liked this circuit, I’ve had a lot of success here in the Carrera Cup cars, and I found this whole bucket of motivation to get going,” said Baird.

“I then got pole, which added to the motivation… I looked at a couple of the names that were just behind, and I thought to myself that I’d better get on with this in the race, because they are not going to muck around.

“We had a good car, I just wanted to go and do 11 qualifying laps, that was my plan, some of the factory guys can get a bit elbowy, and I wanted to bring it back straight for Scotty (Taylor).

“I just looked out the front windscreen and didn’t bother with the back one.”

Both of the Pro classification GT races were majorly shortened by safety cars appearances.

Interestingly, the Amateur driver races ran cleanly, lights to flag.

The F1 halo – from trackside, in my opinion, it was a bit of a non-issue.

The cars are typically bloody fast, and with or without a halo, you don’t have much of a chance to judge the driver’s facial expression.

As for it screwing up the view from the onboard TV cameras, I’m guessing it will only be a matter of time for the cameras to be engineered into the halo structure, providing a clearer view.

My bugbear with the current breed of F1 cars remains the engine note.

While the media were issued with ear plugs, I must remember to remove them from my pockets before dropping my pants into the washing machine.

Watching the start from the press box window, adjacent to the starting grid, it was a completely underwhelming experience.

Give me some rumble and roar any day…

Hat tip to the Royal Australian Air Force for the flyover, with a C-17 Globemaster buzzing the pit straight at 1200 feet and 563km/h.

Quite the rumble and roar.

Multi-21 was a long time ago, it seems.

Who’d have thought a Sebastian Vettel win in Australia would be overwhelmingly popular?

The cheer from the crowd with the Ferrari nabbed the lead would be what you would expect if local lad Dan Ricciardo did something positive.

The crowd on race day looked fantastic.

I was also stoked that the Grand Prix had opened up the spectator area on the shores of the lake, inside turns 10 and 11.

A brilliant piece of tarmac, especially for F1 cars at full pace.

Although not an event record, I managed to cover 56.4km with 75,913 steps over the four days.

A foot massage would be appreciated.

WORDS & IMAGES: MARK WALKER