Albert Park layout tweaked for Oz GP
Track-layout changes to Melbourne’s Albert
Park circuit are set to be completed in time for November’s 2021 Australian Grand Prix in a bid to increase overtaking and alleviate many of the long-standing complaints against the venue.
Race organisers originally planned to complete track resurfacing and corner reprofiling following the 2021 race, initially scheduled for March, but have now opted to bring the changes forward following the event’s postponement to a late-season date.
The first phase of the track work featured a widening of the pitlane by two metres, which could allow for the speed limit to be raised. Work has now begun on the second phase of the track changes, with the biggest alterations coming to the Turns 9-10 complex.
What used to be a heavy braking zone into a tight right-hander will be removed and replaced by a fast, flowing transition to the run along the lake’s northwestern edge. That will effectively make it two sweeping complexes in a row, with the fast right-left followed by the existing left-right for Turns 11 and 12.
The entry speed to the Turns 11-12 complex will now be higher, which could destabilise cars before the braking zone for the Turn 13 right-hander and create an overtaking opportunity. Turn 13 itself will also be reprofiled, with a wider entry and additional camber to open up the possibility of different lines in the corner.
Work got under way on the track changes earlier
this week and is set to be completed in July, before a total resurfacing of the circuit with a more aggressive asphalt. It will be the first complete resurfacing of the track since it first staged the Australian GP in 1996.
The revised 21 November date forced by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could turn out to be a permanent change for the race, with Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief Andrew Westacott open to reviewing its scheduling. The F1 race is currently scheduled to take place four weeks after the country’s Motogp event at Phillip Island. The two races have traditionally taken places at either end of the calendar, but
Westacott is open to a number of options.
“I can’t emphasise highly enough that there is nothing definitive about the calendars in 2022,” Westacott told Autosport. “We always enjoy the opening-race position with Formula 1. It suits us and it’s a major pillar of Melbourne’s events calendar.
“What I’ve also said is that a change of the nature we have now, with a November [Formula 1] event, gives us the opportunity to look at four very distinct scenarios. One is that both events are in an early-season slot, February or March. Another is both races being in a late-season slot, October or November. The traditional F1 at the start and Motogp at the end. Or, the flip – Motogp at the start and F1 at the end.”
The running of the Australian Grand Prix in November remains subject to confirmation as strict restrictions on entering the country remain in place, forcing all incoming travellers to complete 14 days of hotel quarantine. Australia’s vaccination programme started earlier this week, and is planned to be completed by October.