By Jonathan Noble Sunday, March 9th 2008, 04:51 GMT
McLaren have not been relegated to the bottom of the pitlane, despite being thrown out of the constructors' championship last year over the spying scandal.
The Woking-based team lost all of their constructors' championship points and, with pitlane order being decided on the basis of a team's finishing position, it had been expected that McLaren would be moved to the bottom end.
However, after discussions between F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and the teams, McLaren have been given the fifth garage slot for the season.
As the first cars arrived in Melbourne on Sunday for the opening round of the championship in Australia next weekend, McLaren's garage was duly being set up between Williams and Red Bull Racing.
It is believed that the practical issue of where to place McLaren's large motorhome in paddocks was one of the reasons for keeping the team away from the bottom end of the pitlane.
