Track name: Albert Park Circuit
Times the race has been held here: 23
First GP: 1996, won by the Williams of Damon Hill
Total number of race laps: 58
Complete race distance: 307.574 kilometers (191.118 miles)
Pit lane speed limit: 60 kph (37 mph)
Pitlane length: 280m/0.174 miles, estimated time loss 21s
2016 winner: Nico Rosberg, 57 laps, 1:48:15.565
2016 pole position: Lewis Hamilton, 1:23.837
2016 fastest lap: Daniel Ricciardo, 1:28.997 on lap 49.
Most wins (driver): Michael Schumacher (4)
Most wins(team): McLaren (12)
Lap record: Michael Schumacher – Ferrari – 2004 – 1:24.125
Smallest winning margin:Â 0.702s, in 1998. Mika Hakkinen came home just ahead of McLaren team-mate David Coulthard
Circuit Length: 5.303km – 12 longest track of the year
Direction: Clockwise
Turns: 16
Distance to Turn 1 : 350m/0.217 miles
Longest straight: Â 860m/0.534 miles
Fastest corner: 275km/h (171mph), Turn Eight
Slowest corner: 84km/h (52mpg), Turn 15
Top Speed: 305km/h/190mph, on the approach to Turn One
Full throttle: 61%
DRS Zones: Two, on the approaches to Turns One and Three
Key Corner: The Esses at Turns 11 and 12. The minimum apex speed is 225km/h (140mph) and negative camber at the exit makes it easy to run wide
Fuel consumption: 1.7kg per lap, the third highest of the season due to the amount of acceleration bursts from low speed
ERS Demands: Medium
Brake wear: High, there are seven big stops from more than 230km/h (143mph)
Gear changes: 56 per lap /3248 per race
Safety car likelihood: 48 per cent, relatively high
Tyre choices: Soft, supersoft, ultrasoft
Weather: Normally hot and sunny (22 -28 degrees)
Chance of rain: 34%
Grip levels: Low
Run off: Substantial
A lap around Albert Park
Going down the main straight and heading into turn one, you always get the sun in your eyes. It’s quite a nice corner, right inside corner, fourth gear with a little bit of inside curb then outside curb. Turn three is a bit of a tricky corner. You have to be careful on exit and well placed for the next left, which is turn four. Turn five, if you’ve got a good car, it’s flat out. Turn seven is then a right inside corner in third gear. It’s quite a good corner as well, with a bit of a tricky curb on exit. Turn nine requires big braking. Total application is very important because you’ve got the backstraight and you’re very close to the wall on exit.
Then you have my favorite corners between (turns) 11 and 12 and 13. It’s high speed, sixth gear probably. It’s a good feeling. Going into (turn) 14, you have lots of braking as you’re carrying quite a bit of speed in there. (Turn) 15 needs just a bit of a lift off (the throttle), right inside corner, pretty cool to drive. You then need to be well positioned for the last braking point into the left-hand side, where it’s quite tight. The last corner you want to stay flat out, but it’s a bit of a tricky one with a bump in the middle.
I enjoy Albert Park. It changes a lot during the weekend. It’s not a permanent circuit, so the grip is changing a lot. The race start is quite late, but it’s one of my favorite grand prix. It’s not an easy track to get on with. It’s very hard on fuel consumption as well. For the first race of the season, it’s going to be interesting.
