First race of the season, F3 debut and a long history. This is Australia’s Albert Park

The Australian Grand Prix has been a fixture on the Formula 1 calendar for almost thirty years. The Melbourne City Circuit has been the venue for the season on several occasions, and the Grand Prix is not missing from this year’s calendar. Formula 3 is set to make a big racing debut, with Roman Stanek also making his Formula 2 debut. Let’s take a look at the past and present of the circuit in one of the biggest cities in the land of kangaroos.

The origins and history of the circuit

Attempts to organise a race on the streets of Melbourne were made before the Second World War, but it wasn’t until 1953 that pilots competed for the first time. In a battle of forty cars, only eighteen managed to cross the finish line.

In addition, the last driver lost twenty-five laps in the 64-lap race. The then configuration was 5,027 metres long and the fastest lap took one minute and fifty-five seconds. Doug Whiteford won the first race ever.

Melbournians had to wait until 1996 to see the Formula One duels. Between 1985 and 1995, the queen of motorsport made regular stops in Adelaide. The sport’s greatest legends, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, also celebrated victories here.

The current configuration of the circuit is 5,303 metres and drivers will circle it 58 times in a race. In total, they will cover a distance of 307.574 kilometres.

F1 in Melbourne

Damon Hill was the first to celebrate at the Albert Park Circuit, helping him to win his only championship title. That the winners of the Australian VC subsequently enjoyed a World Championship win was commonplace until 2016.

But in the last four events, the driver who finished first has finished second in the championship each time. At the same time, reigning world champion Max Verstappen has never won here. Last year, Charles Leclerc triumphed, looking to reach the top of the formula with Ferrari. Unsuccessfully.

Michael Schumacher, who has won four times, remains the best driver in history on the track in the Australian city of five million. Of the current top 20 drivers, only Lewis Hamilton, who reigned supreme in the 2008 and 2015 championship seasons, has more than one win.

Among constructors, McLaren is the best in F1, with the British stable having dominated Australian races eleven times. But the last time the Woking-based team managed it was in 2012. Ferrari is right behind with ten wins.

The regular season opener at the circuit in Australia was also a full season opener. The last time was in 2019, when Valtteri Bottas, then still driving a Mercedes, recorded a famous win. Subsequently, there was no racing due to Covid and the position of season opener was taken back by Bahrain.

Configuration adjustment

Last year, spectators saw the circuit speed up due to modifications to seven corners. Compared to 2019, the last time it was run on the old configuration, the monoblocs were almost three seconds faster in qualifying. Pole position last year was taken by Charles Leclerc in a time of 1:17.868 in a Ferrari.

We can expect a sub-78 second time again this year. By racing on a new surface in 2022, drivers can look forward to a more “rubberised” track this year, which is closely related to acceleration. We’ll see how fast the fastest will weave through the fourteen corners this year.

F3 debut

For the first time ever, the world’s lowest junior car is also coming to Australia. Formula 3 is without Czech participation this year, but with many new features. Apart from the race in Melbourne, it will also be held in Monaco for the first time, which could bring some very interesting moments.

In Australia this year, there is also Formula 2 with Roman Stanek, who has already had a bad qualifying, which condemned him to start from seventeenth place.

A busy motorsport weekend has already started in the southern hemisphere, which will be rounded off with three races on Sunday. The Formula One race will kick off at 7am Czech time, with spectators having to get up a few hours earlier for the accompanying series.

Source: F1, F2, F3, Wikipedia