Australian Grand Prix: track and statistics

Formula 1 returns to Albert Park after a three-year hiatus. The final stage was held in Melbourne in 2019, the following year Formula 1 came to Australia – leaving without spending a single session due to a single case of Covid-19 from a McLaren employee.

Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia and the capital of the state of Victoria. The city highway has a temporary status and has been constructed along the paths of the Albert Park, located in the business center on the banks of an artificial lake.

For the race this season, the track was seriously modified – it got about five seconds faster, new grandstands were built. Two of them are named after World Champion Jim Clark (between Turn 8 and 9) and Niki Lauda (at Turn 12).

The Australian Grand Prix has been held since 1985 and will be held for the 36th time this season. For eleven years the stage took place in Adelaide and concluded the season, and in 1996 it moved to Melbourne where, with rare exceptions, the first race was held. In September 2015, the organizers extended the contract for the Grand Prix until 2023.

More than 300,000 spectators visit Albert Park during the race weekend and revenues from local businesses directly or indirectly linked to the Grand Prix are estimated to be USD 39 million.

Track features

The track is quite fast and not too demanding on aerodynamics. Due to the dust and mud common on non-stationary race tracks, traction changes drastically over the course of the weekend, making it difficult to work with settings. As with other city roads, there are many bumps on the sidewalk in Albert Park, but this year a new surface has been laid.

The track is demanding for motorcycles, second only to Monza in terms of engine load – 66% of circle riders ride with the throttle fully depressed. Due to frequent acceleration out of slow corners, good road holding and engine stability over a wide rev range is important.

The aerodynamics are tuned for a medium to high level of downforce – according to the settings the Melbourne track resembles Sepang or Silverstone, during the weekend engineers have to look for the traditional compromise between downforce and speed.

For efficient laps at Albert Park you need the most “responsive”, controllable car, when adjusting the suspension it is important to find the optimal combination of stiffness and braking stability. The track places high demands on the effectiveness of the brakes and their cooling.

The best place to overtake is at the end of the straight, where the drivers accelerate to 300km/h and regain the braking position in Jones, consolidating the success exiting the second corner. In 2022, the fourth DRS zone with two points for measuring the interval between cars appeared.

One of the most interesting corners is the 12th, Waite – almost 250 km/h, the curb attack and then the high speed part – the slightest inaccuracy leads to a big loss of time.

Andrew Westacotthead of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation: “Look at how they’ve handled things in Zandvoort and Mexico City, how they’re acting in Miami – we also need to do everything we can to make our podium one of the best.

The aim of the track reconstruction is to make racing more interesting. In Melbourne everyone liked everything – hotels, restaurants, the atmosphere itself, but the track was always criticized and said we should do something to get more overtaking.

We have decided not only to renew the asphalt, but also to make some changes to the track configuration within our means, because there is a lake and sports grounds nearby, as well as the associated infrastructure, as well as a swimming pool and several football fields.

That’s why we slightly changed the profile of some corners, widened some, removed the chicane and also made the pit lane wider. We hope that all of this, combined with the new asphalt, which has become more abrasive, will lead to more rubber degradation, a wider range of tactical plans and more overtaking.”

Weekend schedule

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Tire sets given to teams for the weekend

This time for Melbourne Pirelli chose the “through one” compositions – C2 and C3 in the role of Hard and Medium for the race, and the softest composition C5 – for qualifying.

A set of the softest tires must be kept for the qualifying final – after that those who raced in the final must return this set to Pirelli.

One set of medium and hard tires must be kept for the race – unless declared wet, riders must use at least one of these sets.

Mario IsolaPirelli: “We chose ‘through one’ because we noticed relatively little difference between the C3 and C4 during testing and we think Albert Park with the new tarmac and new configuration is a good place to try it out.”

Performance of active riders in Australia

Daniel Riccardo: “In 2019 the organizers of the Grand Prix asked the opinion of the riders: what needs to change to make the fight more spectacular? And I appreciate that they misused our information.

The 9th and 10th turns have been removed, and this is kind of a compromise. Passing the 10th turn was always difficult, although it was fun, because you had to get out really close to the wall. In my opinion, Valtteri Bottas hit a barrier there for a year and had a wheel puncture.

But the cars have gotten so good in recent years that accelerating out of Turn 10 is pretty easy, and there’s no risk of hitting a wall unless you’re purposely driving too close to it and trying to outsmart everyone.

The car when exiting this bend does not behave as aggressively as before. Since it will now be a straight line, you can use the slipstream very effectively from the exit of the 6th turn, and it will be awesome!