What to expect from the 2019 Australian F1 GP?
This Sunday the first race of the 2019 season kicks off in Australia. Teams can't sandbag any more and won't keep their performance tricks up their sleeve. The biggest question will be who is the fastest and who will be going home with a lot of homework. What to expect from this first race in 2019?
2019 Regulation changes
A lot changed again in the regulations for 2019. The drivers helmets are more safe. The driver seats with drivers have to weigh at least 80 kg. The front and back wings of the cars are more simplified and bigger to make overtaking less difficult. The cars have 2 extra red lights in the back of the rear wing and power units can now use 110 instead of 105 kg of fuel each race. The tyre colours are simplified to soft, medium and hard.
On the 11th of March the FIA announced that starting from this weekend’s Australian grand prix, one point will be awarded to the driver who achieves the fastest lap in a race, provided that driver is also classified in the top 10. A point will also be awarded to the Constructor of the driver setting the fastest lap. The change means an extra 21 championship points can be accrued over the course of a season.
2019 Team & Driver changes
Red Bull switched from Renault to Honda power units. After one year at sister team Toro Rosso, the managemnt of Red Bull found the time right to also switch to the Japanese engine manufacturer. Hopefully they won't make the same mistakes as McLaren did a couple of years ago. This season we can watch and enjoy the debut of 5 rookies. We also can see 6 drivers that switched teams. You can see all drivers on our 2019 F1 drivers page.
Upcoming race will be the 35th Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix and the first race of the 2019 F1 season.
2019 Australian GP facts & Figures
The first Australian Grand Prix was held in 1985 and won by Keke Rosberg in the Williams Honda FW10. The first race was held on the Adelaide street circuit.
From the 1996 season the down-under race was held on the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. This circuit is a semi-street circuit around a lake near the centre of Melbourne.
Driver Victories
Michael Schumacher is with 4 victories, 2 second places and poles still the most successful driver in Australia. Sebastian Vettel can match that amount of victories this year when he wins the race. Statistics show that Lewis Hamilton only won twice in Melbourne, but has the highest grid average of 3.8 and 4.1 for Vettel.
Team Victories
From the teams point of view McLaren won the most races in Australia. They won the race 11 times since 1985. Ferrari won 9 times, Williams 5, Mercedes 3, Renault 2 times and Red Bull once.
Albert Park Circuit
Albert Park's idyllic setting, relaxed environment, popular racing circuit and unexpected results have made it the perfect place for the opening round of the Formula 1 World Championship. The temporary circuit has been used since 1996, when it replaced Adelaide as Australia's host. It surrounds the Albert Park Lake and offers a picturesque setting with its low trees and high sun. It is the pristine metaphor for what Formula 1 is about
A wide street circuit, Albert Park has very few demanding corners and is instead filled with fast flowing turns. It is notoriously slippery and many drivers have been caught out on its slippery surface. Overtaking can be difficult due to the lack of long straights on the track, but two DRS zones have helped that in recent years.
When the cars race around Melbourne, it's as if the sport has returned to its roots. Winding, bumpy and slippery roads set around a stunning location in a country that has a long history in motor sport. Albert Park, like no other track, holds an unrivalled sense of optimism. This is why it's special. Everyone thinks they can win, and history suggests they can.
The official lap record of 1:24,125 min also still belongs to Michael Schumacher. He set the lap record back in 2004 with the mighty Ferrari F2004 that was fitted with a 3.0L V10 normally aspirated engine that could reach 19.000 RPM. Last years quickest lap was driven by Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull RB14. He was almost 2 seconds slower than Schumacher's lap time. It will be interesting to see if the new point scoring fastest lap time will give a push to break that lap time after 15 seasons!
2019 Australian Grand Prix Infographic
What happened in last years 2018 Australian F1 GP?
Sebastian Vettel - Lewis Hamilton - Kimi Raikkonen on the podium winners at Australian GP F1/2018
Sebastian Vettel won the 2018 Australian grand prix. It was his 48th F1 race win and the 100 time he could climb on the podium.
The Australian Grand Prix started without any incident. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) lost his 4th place to Haas driver Kevin Magnussen in the first corner.
Vettel was lucky to be able to pit in a virtual safety car period that was triggered by the retired VF-18 Haas car of Romain Grosjean who had a lose front left wheel after his first pit stop. A lap before the Haas car of Kevin Magnussen retired with exactly the same problem after his pit stop. Both Haas drivers had done great and were driving in the top 6.
Australian F1 GP 2019 Tyres
The Australian Grand Prix season-opener takes place on a street circuit at Albert Park, but a slightly unusual one. Rather than being stop-and-go in nature like Monaco or Singapore, the track has a more flowing rhythm that also takes in some reasonably quick corners. Pirelli has nominated the C2, C3 and C4 compounds as the hard, medium and soft choices respectively under this year’s simpler new tyre rules, with only three colours – white, yellow and red – at each grand prix.
- Being a street circuit, the track is particularly green and slippery at the start of the weekend, with bumps adding to the lack of grip.
- There aren’t that many long corners, which means that it’s not always easy to bring tyres up to temperature.
- A one-stop strategy was the winning choice last year – used by the majority of drivers – and although we need to see degradation rates from free practice, this is likely to be the case again.
- There’s a high likelihood of a safety car in Melbourne, which affects strategy: one of the reasons why pole position isn’t as crucial in Australia as it can be at other races. The pole position driver has only won once in the last five years…
- Weather is often a mixed bag, helping to make Melbourne one of the more unpredictable races of the year. Forecasts so far suggest it will be cloudy but dry.
- Good traction is key to a quick time, in order to get a good drive out of the corners onto the many short straights that characterise the track.
Selected sets for the 2019 Australian F1 GP
Australian GP Weather Forecast
The weather forecast at Albert Park this weekend is very nice. Temperatures are set to rise during the weekend and no rain is expected.
Friday, March 15th - FP1 & FP2
Conditions: Sunny with scattered cloud
Max. temperature: 22°C
Chance of rain: 0%
Saturday, March 16th - FP3 & Qualifying
Conditions: Sunny with scattered cloud
Max. temperature: 27°C
Chance of rain: 0%
Sunday, March 17th - Race
Conditions: Sunny with scattered cloud
Maxi. temperature: 28°C
Chance of rain: 0%
Who will be on the 2019 Australian F1 GP podium?
Nobody still knows the real performance of current 2019 F1 cars. During testing Ferrari showed great pace, but last year we saw a similar picture. But that whole picture changed after Lewis Hamilton took pole and showed 0.7 sec difference in the Mercedes to Kimi Raikkonen who started 2nd in the Ferrari.
Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari is looking a lot more confident then last year. The Geman driver even told the press that they had some major issues last year during testing and that they hadn't any during this years testing.
So Ferrari looks very strong and even Mercedes is telling the world that they are slowing than Ferrari.
Our podium prediction for the 2019 Australian Grand Prix is:
1. Sebastian Vettel, 2. Charles Leclerc & 3. Lewis Hamilton
The race starts on Sunday 17th of March 2019 at 05:10 GMT.
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