Formula 1 heads down under for the third race of the 2023 season at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia and Red Bull looks to continue its dominant start to this year’s calendar.
The Australian Grand Prix has been hosted at 23 different venues throughout its long history that began in 1928 when the race was held on Phillip Island just south of Melbourne. The race officially became a part of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1985 where it was hosted in Adelaide.
The race would move to its current home at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne in 1996 and has run continuously there ever since, except 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 5.278 kilometer purpose-built track is a favorite location among drivers and runs 58 laps total on a Grand Prix Sunday. Four current drivers—Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, and Charles Leclerc—have taken home a victory before in Australia.
And while Australian-borne Oscar Piastri of Mclaren would love to take victory at his home grand prix, no Australian has ever won this race and Mclaren has finished outside the points in the previous two races. However, the Melbourne native would love to continue the strong start to his Formula 1 career with an impression finish at home.
The FIA has confirmed that this year’s Australian Grand Prix will feature four Drag Reduction System (DRS) zones, which is up from three last year. The FIA attempted to add a fourth DRS zone to this race last year but rolled back to three after the second practice session, citing safety concerns.
Pirelli has estimated that if the FIA allows four DRS zones for the Sunday race that it could be the fastest race ever conducted at the track with speeds reaching as high as 340 kilometers per hour, or 211 miles per hour.
Last year’s tire selection by Pirelli bottlenecked the race into a one-stopper with teams favoring the hard and medium compounds. This year, however, they’re looking to give “more options for the race in terms of strategy” with this year’s selection, according to Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director.
Changes made to the track last year favor overtaking, especially for cars setup with a bias towards traction exiting corners. Mercedes’ George Russell believes this will advantage Aston Martin, which has shocked the racing world with its early dominance of the field outside of frontrunner Red Bull.
“I think Aston are going to be really strong here,” Russell stated. “They seem to be the quickest car in the medium-speed corners, which obviously there’s plenty of them here in Melbourne, so if we can fight with Aston and Ferrari again, that’d be a good weekend.”
The oddsmakers clearly favor Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (-330) to win on Sunday with teammate Sergio Perez (+450) securing second-best odds. If correct, this would be the third straight Red Bull 1-2 finish.
Alonso (+1,000) looks the favorite to complete the podium by the oddsmakers, which would be his 101st career podium finish and third-in-a-row to begin the 2023 season.
The Australian Grand Prix will be difficult for American audiences to catch live as qualifying begins at midnight Saturday Central Standard Time with the race beginning 24 hours later at midnight on Sunday.