Not since the tyre debacle at Indianapolis in 2005 has Formula 1 racing faced such a crisis.
The havoc at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne began long before the race start when the two-car Manor team that had been cobbled together with the remnants of the bankrupt Marussia F-1 outfit, failed to even make it to practice or qualifying.
On top of that a back injury suffered by Valtteri Botta in qualifying proved serious enough to prevent him from racing in the Williams Mercedes on Sunday.
And then as what was left of the grid departed the pit area Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren Honda began spewing smoke and dropping oil as he rounded turn three.
For the proud McLaren brand it was like being kicked when it was already down after horrendous winter test woes, losing two-time world champion Fernando Alonso to a concussion and the bottom results in Saturday qualifying with its new Honda power packs.
Just as Magnussen was limping back to the paddock, Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull Renault stopped dead on the track with a catastrophic clutch failure and he too never made it to the starting grid.
It left just 15 of the 20 entries on the track when the race began.
It was reduced to 14 before the first lap was done when Pastor Maldonado crashed his Lotus Mercedes.
By the time Lewis Hamilton took the checkered flag 57 laps later there, were only five cars on the lead lap and only 11 still running.
If ever there was a clear signal that F-1 racing needed a change at the top, it came on Sunday at Melbourne.
Where was F-1 czar Bernie Ecclestone during all of this?
If you can believe the man himself, he was washing his hands of the whole mess, blaming the team owners for everything that has happened.
“What can we do about the teams? Their companies are in the shit because they spend more than they have got,” he told Britain’s Independent newspaper. “They can spend less money. It’s nothing to do with us. We can’t control people’s spending.”
Of course he can, but he won’t because he mistakenly believes that the biggest lure of F-1 is its opulence.
It has gotten to the point where the parade of Euro trash celebutarts at any Grand Prix is given equal prominence to the cars and drivers.
While what happened on the track at Australia was bad, the season ahead could find F-1 in more deep dung.
Word is that the German Grand Prix — a stalwart on the F-1 calendar since 1950 — will be cancelled this season due to high costs.
THE GOOD NEWS
In spite of all the other things going on in Australia, there was some good news.
In terms of sheer mechanical and athletic excellence, there is no doubt the Mercedes team of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg is in a league all by itself.
The 1-2 finish on Sunday portends another season of dominance. Hamilton put into words what everyone else saw in Mercedes.
“It’s quite unbelievable, really, what this team has done,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to start off the season the way we finished the last and the car is just incredible.”
However, there was a signal from Ferrari that it is back in the big time this season after five years of also-rans.
While Ferrari can rightfully point to new addition Sebastian Vettel’s third-place finish as reason to celebrate, the four-time champion was realistic that there is still a long way back to the top step of the podium.
“If you look at the gap, for no one is it going to be easy (to catch Mercedes),” Vettel said.
“We have to focus on ourselves and make sure what we have learned from this weekend we take into the next races.
“We need to make sure it was not a one-off.
“You have to be realistic, this weekend was in (Mercedes’) hands.
“It’s a big gap. It could turn around a little bit for the next grand prix, we could be closer, but it could be even worse.”