Melbourne once again hosts the season opener around a lake in Albert Park. The circuit was built originally in the 1950’s and combines fast flowing corners and straights. It first held the race as a non-championship race in 1953.
The race provides drama throughout with many débutee on the grid and many teams running a full race distance in Melbourne for the first time. As we seen over the years the race can be unpredictable with many retirements but all will become clear through the weekend.
It is believed that Mercedes are still in front but Ferrari are a lot closer which could make the racing closer. But answers will come this weekend and the pecking order will emerge going into Bahrain.
Facts and figures
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| Race | 2016 FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX |
| Venue | Albert Park, Melbourne |
| Circuit Length | 5.303 KM (3.295 mi) |
| Laps | 58 |
| Race Distance | 307.574KM (191.071 mi) |
| Lap Record | 1:24.125 (Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004) |
| Most wins drivers | Lex Davison (4) Michael Schumacher (4) |
| Most wins manufacture | McLaren (12) |
Event timetable
| Local | GMT | |
| Friday | ||
| P1 | 12:30-14:00 | 01:30-03:00 |
| P2 | 16:30-18:00 | 05:30-07:00 |
| Saturday | ||
| P3 | 14:00-15:00 | 03:00-04:00 |
| Qualifying | 17:00-18:00 | 06:00-07:00 |
| Sunday | ||
| Race | 16:00-18:00 | 05:00-07:00 |
What happened in 2015?
Lewis Hamilton drove through the drama after jumping his team-mate at the start. But then the safety car came out onto track which Hamilton recovered from. By the seventh lap a over third of the field had retired.
While Max Verstappen sunning debut was ended by a failure on his car and Kimi Raikkonen was forced out by the team not fitting tyres properly. But Verstappens team-mate Carlos Sainz had a strong finish while Red Bull struggled to be in the top half of the field
2015 vs 2014 Race Data
| P1 Fastest | P2 Fastest | P3 Fastest | Q1 Fastest | Q2 Fastest | Q3 Fastest | Race Time | Fastest Lap | |
| 2015 | 01:29.557 | 01:27.697 | 01:27.867 | 01:28.586 | 01:26.894 | 01:49.834 | 01:30:54.067 | 01:30.945 |
| 2014 | 01:31.840 | 01:29.625 | 01:29.375 | 01:30.775 | 01:45.264 | 01:44.231 | 01:32:58.710 | 01:32.478 |
Dry tyres picks
| Driver | Ultra soft | Super soft | Soft | Medium | Hard (prime) |
| HAMILTON | N/A | 6 | 6 | 1 | N/A |
| ROSBERG | N/A | 6 | 5 | 2 | N/A |
| VETTEL | N/A | 6 | 5 | 2 | N/A |
| RAIKKONEN | N/A | 7 | 5 | 2 | N/A |
| BOTTAS | N/A | 7 | 5 | 1 | N/A |
| MASSA | N/A | 7 | 5 | 1 | N/A |
| RICCARDO | N/A | 7 | 4 | 2 | N/A |
| KYVAT | N/A | 7 | 4 | 2 | N/A |
| MAGNUSSEN | N/A | 7 | 5 | 1 | N/A |
| PLAMER | N/A | 7 | 5 | 1 | N/A |
| HULKENBERG | N/A | 6 | 5 | 2 | N/A |
| PEREZ | N/A | 6 | 5 | 2 | N/A |
| VERSTAPPEN | N/A | 7 | 4 | 2 | N/A |
| SAINZ | N/A | 7 | 4 | 2 | N/A |
| BUTTON | N/A | 7 | 5 | 1 | N/A |
| ALONSO | N/A | 7 | 5 | 1 | N/A |
| ERICSSON | N/A | 6 | 6 | 1 | N/A |
| NASR | N/A | 6 | 5 | 2 | N/A |
| WEHRLIN | N/A | 5 | 4 | 4 | N/A |
| HARYNATO | N/A | 5 | 4 | 4 | N/A |
| GROSJEAN | N/A | 7 | 5 | 1 | N/A |
| GUTIERREZ | N/A | 7 | 4 | 2 | N/A |
