Australian racing fans will have plenty to keep their minds on when the F1 circus arrives in Melbourne in the coming days, with Melbourne’s Oscar Piastri set to tackle the Albert Park track for the first time, while Max Verstappen looks to continue his march. seemingly unstoppable towards a third world. qualification.
The Red Bull star’s car has so far been ahead of its competition in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and it looks set to once again dominate in what is being billed as the fastest Melbourne Grand Prix ever.
However, the oldest and most experienced driver on the grid is a dark horse to take the checkered flag as his team proves to be quite the surprise package.
Daily Mail Australia has broken down everything you need to know before the action begins on Friday.
When does the action start?
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen lifts the winner’s trophy in the season-opening race in Bahrain, and has a slim chance of doing the same in Melbourne on Sunday.
The cars will take to the track when the first practice session takes place from 12:30pm to 1:30pm (AEDT) on Friday. That is followed by the second practice from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Saturday’s F1 action begins with the third practice session from 12:30pm to 1:30pm, with qualifying starting at 4pm and finishing at 5pm.
Last year, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole position from Max Verstappen in second and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez in third.
But the Prancing Horse’s chances of starting from the front row of the grid appear to be remote this year, even though they were the closest team to Red Bull in qualifying at the season-opening race in Bahrain.
How do I see practice, qualifying and the race?
Enough Aussies to fill the MCG multiple times will tune in to their home GP over the weekend (pictured AFL stars Callum Wilkie and Jye Caldwell pose with an F1 car at Melbourne’s famous stadium)
The GP is broadcast both free-to-air and on pay-TV.
Channel Ten’s coverage begins at 11:30am (AEDT) on Friday, with broadcast starting at 10:00am on Saturday and 8:30am on Sunday. It is also available on the broadcaster’s streaming service, 10 Play.
The race will also be televised on Fox Sports and Kayo’s streaming service.
His McLaren is one of the worst cars in the field, but that couldn’t stop Oscar Piastri from qualifying eighth in Saudi Arabia in a sign that his talent cannot be tarnished by bad machinery.
What should I keep in mind this year?
In three words: Piastri, Piastri, Piastri.
Australia’s last world champion F1 driver, Alan Jones, is so impressed with the 21-year-old that he believes he is capable of taking the title, and he’s not alone, with several other respected F1 judges heaping praise on the Aussie. .
His McLaren might be one of the worst cars in the field, but Piastri gave a great illustration of his talent when he managed to qualify eighth on the grid for the second race of the year in Saudi Arabia.
He has yet to lap the Albert Park circuit in an F1 car and even if he qualifies well, the British team is struggling hard for race pace and suffering from reliability issues so finishing in the points would be a great victory.
At the opposite end of the scale is the Red Bull team. His car is so strong that Lewis Hamilton declared it the fastest he had ever seen after Perez and Verstappen finished 1-2 in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago.
Many pundits believe reliability issues or a crash are the only things standing in their way as they look to duplicate that result in Melbourne.
Fernando Alonso has stunned the field by finishing third in the first two races of the year in his incredibly fast Aston Martin, and he is shaping up to be Red Bull’s biggest threat in Melbourne.
However, should an accident or mechanical problem hit Christian Horner’s drivers, the Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are not in the best position to take advantage as they were for much of last year, that falls to Fernando Alonso and his incredible Aston Martin.
The oldest driver in the field is in the most amazing car in the field, with the green machine qualifying and race pace leaving the rest of the paddock in shock as they made an incredible leap in performance during the low season.
The Spaniard finished third in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, leaving him behind Verstappen and Perez in the drivers’ standings with Sainz languishing 10 points behind him.
What happened last year?
The 2022 Grand Prix was the Charles Leclerc show through and through, as the Prancing Horse star dominated qualifying and the race to extend his lead in the drivers’ championship to 34.
Leclerc dominated the 2021 Grand Prix, leading all 58 laps to finish 20 seconds ahead of Perez after Verstappen was forced to retire with a mechanical problem on lap 39 when he was running second.
George Russell’s Mercedes finished third with his teammate Hamilton in fourth, but their cars were far off the pace in an ominous sign of what to expect for the remainder of the season.
Leclerc’s victory put him 34 points ahead of Verstappen for the drivers’ title, but the race was the high point of the season for the Italian team, which was crushed by Red Bull, its own reliability problems and strategic decisions that they scratch their heads for the rest of the campaign.
Carlos Sainz had a race of terror after struggling in qualifying, falling from ninth on the grid to 14th early on before losing control and stranding his car in the gravel on just the second lap.
The circuit
Piastri (pictured racing in Saudi Arabia) and the rest of the field will have an additional DRS zone at their disposal this year, which should make for the fastest race ever in Melbourne.
Albert Park, which first hosted the Australian GP in 1996, is 5.278km long, with a total race distance of just over 306km over 58 laps.
Leclerc set the lap record of 1.20.260 last year after the circuit was repaved, with the widening of turn six and the removal of the chicane at turns nine and ten contributing to his breakneck speed.
This year’s race should be even faster thanks to the addition of a fourth DRS zone, and the change led many to predict that it will be the fastest race ever on the track.