What to expect from the 2020 F1 Australian Grand Prix?
The 2020 Formula 1 World Championship starts on Sunday with its traditional Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne. After a long winter and many talks about 2020 and how it is a transitional year due to the 2021 rule change, the excitement is still there and we’re expecting a close and thrilling season. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are expected to fight for the main prizes, while teams like McLaren, Renault and Racing Point will be trying to join the battle in front.
Lewis Hamilton arrives at Melbourne having achieved the last six Pole Positions around the Albert Park Circuit, but his Pole-to-win ratio has not been quite good, as he won only once (2015) in the previous six races. Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton’s teammate, won the 2019 Australian Grand Prix and would want to start 2020 with similar results, however, the fight for the win might be closer than last year at Australia, where Mercedes dominated.
If the last part of the 2019 season is something we can trust in terms of the equal performance shown by the top teams, the start of 2020 should be spicy, but it does not always work that way. Mercedes looked strong in winter testing, though some engines setbacks were present. On Ferrari’s side, the team had a quiet testing and they were not very vocal about their chances for Australia, but they should be able to compete if the SF1000 is as different from the SF90 as they said it is.
Regarding Red Bull, pretty much every F1 pundit expect them to take the fight to Hamilton with Max Verstappen leading the charge. In the last few years, they have shown their best level in the second half of the season, which has not allowed them to mount a title challenge.
The RB16 was ahead of schedule, according to Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, which probably means the team and Honda have been working to have a solid contender from the first race of the year. In terms of downforce, their approach is a little different for this car, since they have changed the look of the nose cone, trying out a thinner version which has produced big results for Mercedes in the past.
The midfield —hopefully, we will not need to divide the grid into two classes— battle should be exciting again. McLaren dominated the midfield in 2019, but Renault proved in 2019 that the results fro the previous year do not translate into a successful season. Renault itself has revamped the front part of their car and had a good winter testing.
However, the biggest talking point from the Barcelona testing, apart from Mercedes’ Dual-Axis Steering, was Racing Point’s car.
Lance Stroll, Racing Point RP20 during the Barcelona February testing II at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 26, 2020 in Spain. (Photo by Mark Sutton / LAT Images)
The RP20 shocked the paddock when the team revealed it as it looked extremely similar to the Mercedes W10 from last year. Rivals like McLaren driver Carlos Sainz even called it “the pink Mercedes” publicly. On behalf of Racing Point, its Technical Director Andy Green explained that the team received a big injection of money that allowed them to pursue a similar design to the one Mercedes has had recently.
The team is a Mercedes engine customer, has tried the Mercedes wind tunnel and have the same gearbox as the German brand. Green defended their work for 2020 and said that other teams complaints are likely because of their own weaknesses. “For people to think, to take a team like that (which has achieved a lot with less money than others) and inject money and resources in it, and it wasn’t going to improve, was just naive. And I think they just haven’t stepped up to the plate.”
The race will see the return of Esteban Ocon to the grid with Renault, while Canadian Nicholas Latifi will make his F1 debut with Williams. German Nico Hülkenberg will not be part of the grid on 2020 as his Renault seat went to Ocon. Robert Kubica, who returned to the sport last year with Williams, left the team and is a reserve driver for Alfa Romeo.
2020 Australian GP Facts & Figures
The 25th Australian Grand Prix will be celebrated on Sunday. After many doubts due to the Coronavirus outbreak and flight restrictions for people coming from Italy, the race will go ahead as planned.
The Australian Grand Prix entered the Formula 1 circus in 1985. It was held at the Adelaide Street Circuit, at Adelaide from 1985 to 1995. Adelaide was the last race of the year each time and it was the place of many historical F1 moments. Nigel Mansell losing the 1986 World Drivers’ Championship due to tyre failure was a big one. However, Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill colliding in the 1994 title-deciding race will always be in the minds of any F1 fan.
From 1996, the race venue was changed to Melbourne and the Albert Park Circuit and it has been the inaugural GP of 22 of the last 24 seasons. The most successful driver in Australia is Michael Schumacher, who won four times between 2000 and 2004.
Regarding Pole Positions, Hamilton has eight to his name. The Australian Grand Prix is the one where Hamilton has achieved more podiums in his career —nine—, tied with the British Grand Prix.
Among the current drivers, Sebastian Vettel has won three times at Melbourne —2011, 2017 and 2018—, Kimi Raikkonen twice —2007 and 2013— and Valtteri Bottas won last year.
McLaren is the team with the most wins at Australia since 1985 with 11. Ferrari has won 12 times at Australia, but three of those victories came before Australia joined the World Championship.
Since the switch to Melbourne, Ferrari leads the teams with eight victories. On the engine side, Mercedes has 11 wins at Albert Park with three teams —McLaren (6), Brawn GP (1), and Mercedes F1 Team (4)—.
Albert Park Circuit
The circuit has been the subject of some criticism in recent years due to the difficulty it presents for overtaking. A street circuit, the Albert Park is not traditional urban track since it has some real overtaking spots which have not been explored in recent years. The outwash of each car generates turbulence in the car behind and it has prompted some processional racing in the last few years.
Still, each start of a new season brings joy and good memories to the fans. The race at Australia has those epic ingredients of being a happy event just because it can always be the start of a new era for the sport.
The circuit length is 5.303 km and it has 16 corners. The main overtaking spot is Turn 3, where cars arrive at a speed well over 300 km/h.
The record during a race around the Albert Park Circuit was set by Michael Schumacher in 2004. The German put the Fastest Lap of 1:24.125 min behind the wheel of his Ferrari F2004 with an average speed of 226,934 km/h.
Last year, Hamilton set the all-time lap record around the track with his Pole Position lap. The reigning champion stopped the clock at 1:20.486 min for a scorching lap. During the 2019 race, Bottas’ Fastest Lap was a 1:25.235 min. This year, we might see a 1:24 during the race if the weather is benevolent.
What happened in the 2019 Australian Grand Prix?
Top three finishers Valtteri Bottas (1st) Lewis Hamilton (2nd) and Max Verstappen (3rd) celebrate on the podium on March 17, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia.
Bottas, starting from second of the grid, got off to a scorching start to overtake his teammate into Turn 1. Hamilton fought back into Turn 3, but the Finnish driver was able to keep him behind.
The Ferrari pair of Vettel and Charles Leclerc, which were starting third and fifth, got close to each other on the first corner but managed to avoid a collision, while Red Bull’s Verstappen positioned in between them. Home hero Daniel Ricciardo was starting his first race with Renault, but an excursion on the grass of the main straight after the start punished the front wing of his car and his day was pretty much ended just seconds after the lights went out.
There were three retirements during the race. Ricciardo retired his car on lap 28 due to the damage sustained in his first-lap accident, Carlos Sainz had an engine failure on his McLaren debut, and Romain Grosjean had to retire due to a wheel loose after another failed pit-stop for the Haas crew at Melbourne.
Bottas’ lead was never in trouble. While Hamilton suffered after bits of his car flew off without any apparent reason. Vettel tried to take advantage of Hamilton’s pace by pitting earlier than him, but the Englishman kept his position after his pitstop. Pitting later than the rivals in front paid off for Verstappen, who pitted 11 laps later than Vettel and overtook him for third place.
Leclerc pitted 14 laps later than his teammate and had a shot at Vettel’s fourth place after catching him with few laps to go. However, Ferrari gave the Monegasque the precautionary instruction of maintaining his position.
Ultimately, Bottas took his first win since the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and scored the Fastest Lap, which was worth a point for the first time since 1959. Hamilton finished second ahead of Verstappen, who gave Honda its first podium since Rubens Barrichello finished third in the 2008 British Grand Prix. Vettel and Leclerc completed the top five, while Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hülkenberg, Kimi Raikkonen, Lance Stroll, and Daniil Kvyat completed the point-scorers.
2020 Australian Grand Prix - Tyres
For the inaugural race of the 2020 campaign, Pirelli will give the teams a medium combination, which is very balanced. The hardest tyre, the white-marked rubber, will be the C2, while the yellow-marked medium tyre will be the C3, and the red-marked soft tyre will be the C4.
As teams unanimously voted against the 2020 tyres Pirelli tested during practice for the 2019 United States Grand Prix, the same compounds from 2019 remained for 2020. The teams should be able to work strategies even better than previous years given the circumstances.
Last year at Melbourne, Pirelli gave the teams the same tyres provided this year. A low-grip asphalt with medium abrasion and low tyre stress, Albert Park has not provided many strategic options in recent years and a dry 2020 race should not be different.
Even with the introduction of a point for the Fastest Lap in 2019, we did not see any driver attempt a late pit stop to go for the Fastest Lap. It might change this year as one year of experience under that rule can provide much-needed data for the teams to know how to proceed if they have the chance to dive into the pits late in the Grand Prix.
Since 2015, the winner of the Australian Grand Prix has done it after a one-stopper four times, with Nico Rosberg being the exception in a 2016 race which was highly determined by a red-flag period.
By keeping the same tyres from 2019 for this year, it can only be logical to see most teams go for a single stop during the race if it is dry and track temperatures remain similar to the previous years.
Since 2017, only one of the 30 point-scorers at Australia was able to pull off more than one stop: Daniil Kvyat in 2017.
Each podium finisher of last year’s race started the GP with the softest option (C4) and went for the medium compound (C3) to finish their second stint.
2020 Australian Grand Prix Weather Forecast
The weather forecast for Australia can be tricky to predict based on past races, as there has been some wet races, races with light rain and totally dry GPs.
Friday, March 13th - FP1 & FP2
Conditions: Sunny morning with a chance of showers in the afternoon
Max. temperature: 28°C
Chance of rain: 80%
Saturday, March 14th - FP3 & Qualifying
Conditions: Partly cloudy
Max. temperature: 18°C
Chance of rain: 30%
Sunday, March 15th - Race
Conditions: Partly cloudy
Maxi. temperature: 20°C
Chance of rain: 20%
Who will be on the 2020 Australian Grand Prix Podium?
Lewis Hamitlon, Max Verstappen, Alexander Albon and Esteban Ocon
If the end of last season and the previous race held al Melbourne are any indications of what is next, then Mercedes and Red Bull should have a close battle in the 2020 Australian Grand Prix, both on Saturday and Sunday.
Last year in Australia, Bottas won in a Mercedes 1-2 with Verstappen finishing third, in front of the two underperforming Ferraris. While in the last F1 race, the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton won for Mercedes with Verstappen following him home. Of course, writing off Ferrari for the start of any Grand Prix season should not be common and will not be done here. They have a shot.
Even though Mattia Binotto has not been optimistic about their winter testing and their chances for the first race, a team that big should be ready for a fight went the lights go out on Sunday.
Clearly, after the talk and the controversies of the Ferrari Power Unit at the end of 2019, the team suffered and did not have great results. They attributed their struggles in the straights at Austin to a downforce-friendly setup, which might as well be true given they were fastest on sector 1 in the Q3 of the US Grand Prix qualifying.
After all the talk and the recent protests of seven non-Ferrari teams regarding the FIA settlement with Ferrari, the Italian team must have at least some motivation to prove they are competing in equal terms.
During winter testing, Mercedes seems to have the upper hand in terms of performance and reliability. The main talking point was the Dual Axis Steering system, which permitted the Mercedes drivers to pull and push the steering wheel of the W11 to adjust the toe angle of the front tyres and gain performance. It remains to be seen if it will be an actual improvement on the Mercedes.
Can we see a ‘midfield’ team sneak into the podium at Melbourne? The last time a car different to a Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull achieved a podium at Australia was in 2014, when the two McLarens of Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button finished behind the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.
It would not be common to see a midfield team enter the podium, but it surely would be thrilling. McLaren with Sainz and Lando Norris, Renault with Ocon and Ricciardo and Racing Point with Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll are expected to fight for the top spot in the midfield.
Other teams such as Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri —previously known as Toro Rosso— should be close behind. Williams had a better start to 2020 than they had last year, with their 2020 challenger hitting the track from the start of winter testing.
Hamilton has been on the podium in nine of the 13 races he has started at Australia, so he is a clear contender to spray champagne after Sunday’s race. Vettel has been on the podium with Ferrari in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 and surely wants to start a new year fresh with a big result.
The main contenders are from the top three teams, clearly. Depending on Red Bull’s pace, even Alex Albon can have a chance. Even though many are quick to avoid mentioning Albon in any significant talk, he is talented and a year of experience can be helpful for him.
Our podium prediction for the 2020 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix is: 1. Max Verstappen, 2. Lewis Hamilton, 3. Charles Leclerc.
The race starts on Sunday 15th of March 2020 at 05:10 GMT, 16:10 (local) and on 22:10 (PT) —Saturday—.
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
