2022 Melbourne - Albert Park Pre-Race Thread

Meh think i prefer the older layout but we will see if it actually improves the overtaking chances.

 

The best way to remove the effect of DRS is to let the drivers use it anytime and anywhere they like. That means everyone goes faster...and overtaking goes back to being about the best driver and the best car and the biggest balls.

 

Or just get rid of it.

 

Tyres represent an unknown entity this weekend - https://www.planetf1.com/news/pirelli-unknowns-australian-grand-prix/


Pirelli reel off the unknowns for Australian GP

Date published: April 4 2022 - Jamie Woodhouse

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Formula 1 prepares to return to Albert Park, but as Pirelli point out, so much has changed since the last visit, making for unknowns aplenty.

The series last visited Albert Park back in 2020, but that year the race weekend was abandoned shortly before FP1 as the global pandemic started to take hold, meaning no competitive action has taken place there for Formula 1 since 2019.


What’s more, while Albert Park is a familiar venue in the world of Formula 1, it is no longer the same track which we all remember.

Modifications have been made to numerous corners, including complete reprofiles and widening, so even the drivers with experience of racing around this track will need to relearn it.

There is also the weather. While the forecasts currently suggest a dry race weekend, it is now into the Autumn season in Australia, so some rain can not be ruled out.



And of course, the Formula 1 cars themselves have changed drastically since the last visit to Melbourne, with the teams and drivers still very much in the learning phase after just two rounds of experience since the regulatory overhaul.


Pirelli have also opted for a gap between their compounds for the first time this season. So, the C2 will serve as the hard tyre and the C3 will be the medium, but the soft compound will be the C5, Pirelli’s softest tyre available and one which has not been used at a race weekend before following the switch to 18-inch tyres for 2022.

So, as Pirelli’s Formula 1 boss Mario Isola explains, there are a plethora of unknowns for the return of the Australian Grand Prix.


“Compared to previous occasions, and with the drivers not having raced there for two seasons, this year there are a few unknowns to the Australian Grand Prix,” said Isola in a Pirelli preview piece.

“First of all the circuit layout has been heavily revised to improve overtaking and, as a result, there’s also new asphalt that should be quite smooth. This means the track is likely to offer very low levels of grip at the start, with a high degree of evolution expected over the weekend and an extremely slippery surface if it rains.

“We will also head to Melbourne a couple of weeks later compared to previous seasons, when autumn has already started in the southern hemisphere, so conditions could be more variable.

“Last but not least, there is a completely new generation of cars and tyres that the drivers are still trying to learn about. All these factors mean that there will be a lot of work to do for teams and drivers in the free practice sessions.

“We decided to opt for the step in the compound nominations because we noticed that there was a relatively small performance gap between the C3 and C4 compounds during development testing, and we believe that Albert Park – with its new asphalt and layout – is a good place to try out this option.”

 

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I'm looking forward to this weekend. Would like to see our red cars put in a dominant performance that has the other teams shaking their heads.

 

I am too. I always liked australia but felt like the track was difficult to pass on so I'm excited about the changes to the layout.

 

I only see 14 corner numbers...not 15.

 

Oh please. Have some cheese with your whine. Most races start at 3am for me.

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7 am here, so a perfect time to get the good stuff out of the fridge, and madame will still be sleeping.
A great start of the day!
Then at 8pm MotoGP at COTA!
A great end of the day!

 

Rescue mission averts F1 freight delay for Australian GP
Formula 1 headed off the danger of some teams being left without equipment for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix thanks to a last-minute rescue mission to fast-track freight to Melbourne.

Amid worldwide freight delays that have been triggered by rising transport costs and the impact of the Ukraine war, shipments of equipment that teams had sent weeks ago risked not making it on time.

A ship containing the freight of three teams, which had originally been expected to take 42 days, was delayed by more than one week that left it on a tight timetable to make it to Australia.

But amid the risk of further delays, F1’s official freight partner DHL intervened last weekend and took the decision to pull the freight from the ship at Singapore and fly it down to Melbourne instead.

DHL’s Vice President of Motorsport Logistics, Paul Fowler, took the decision to travel to Singapore to personally oversee the rescue mission – knowing that any delay to freight could impact running in Melbourne.

With planes rerouted from Los Angeles and Vietnam, the freight was removed from the cargo ship and loaded on to two Boeing 777s and a 767-300 before being flown direct to Melbourne.

The delivery arrived in Australia on Monday morning, ensuring all teams had their equipment in time ahead of this weekend's third round of the F1 championship.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/rescue-mission-averts-f1-freight-delay-for-australian-gp/9658057/

 

Makes you wonder if we'll have any races impacted by logistics issues the rest of the year.

Anyway, here's to CARLOS SAINZ getting his first F1 win this weekend!

 

F1 was close this week. MOTOGP last week. I think odds are good more of this potential exists.

 

We (Ferrari) need Charles to get the win with Carlos picking up another 2nd.