AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2008
ALBERT PARK
MELBOURNEIn 1956,The 'greats', including Stirling Moss, Jean Behra and Ken Wharton, were out from Europe with their latest machinery. Many of the locals had also ordered the latest in exotic machinery in Europe in an attempt to compete. Moss, in his 250F Maserati, won the first Grand Prix at Albert Park,beating local boy Jack Brabham amongst others in a non-championship race, The Olympic Grand Prix, run to coincide with the Olympic Games, held in Melbourne that year.
When Victoria won the rights to stage the Grand Prix for 1996, a "new" circuit was designed utilizing portions of the original track, bringing it up to modern F1 specifications. The circuit today is vastly different than it was in 1956. There were no run-off areas, no safety barriers, no smooth curbing. Plenty of period hay bales. It was a tree lined public road that went around the lake with parts of the road having bluestone curbing . The current F1 circuit now runs on the opposite direction than it did then....
The first race in 1956 had its excitement from the start. Stillwell got the jump at the start and lead Bill Pitt into the fast, first left-hand corner. He recalls how he closed quickly under braking into Melford Corner before realising he had gone into it far too fast. The car was still under control, and as he continued the power slide and concentrated on the short burst into the next corner, suddenly it was all over before he knew what had happened. As the D-Type slid wide, and the power was applied, the back wheel touched the stone curbing and at those speeds the car simply twisted into the air and slammed down on its back.
As the green D-Type lay upside down the scattered hay bales caught fire and quickly spread to the car.
The marshals were convinced that the driver was squashed under the car, but couldn't right the car till the fire was out. When that was done, and the car was back on its wheels, they were shocked to find the cockpit empty. Unseen by anyone Bill had been thrown out while the car was in mid air, and in a state of shock, and worry about Jack Brabham's Cooper which was following, he jumped a six foot wall of hay bales before anyone had seen. Anyway back to the more modern times, and the 'new' Albert Park.
Initially, drivers and team personnel who saw the plans for the renewed circuit, predicted it to be a fast circuit with great corners, but the reality turned out to be somewhat less. However it still stands as one of the better tracks on the calendar.
1996Melbourne ran its first Formula One Championship race in 1996, after taking theAustralian venue from Adelaide. With this maiden race, also came the shift of the Australian race to the beginning of the Formula One calendar. The transition didn't come smoothly, with many disruptions from protesters, which still carry on today, although the numbers have greatly dwindled.The Melbourne track, is contained in a park, the layout smooth and flowing, with no 90 degree street corners to break the speed. It runs clockwise around a lake, and the scenery is breathtaking. All the drivers love racing there.
Australia became a rarity by hosting two consecutive GP's, the last round of 1995 in Adelaide and the first round of 1996 at Albert Park.Damon Hill, still all charged up from his victory in the closing race of 1995 in Adelaide, continued where he left off, winning the maiden victory, after his new Williams team-mate, Jacques Villeneuve, had to slow at the end of the race with engine problems. Brundle made his presence felt with a huge barrel roll on the first lap, emulating in a way Bill Pitts effort in his D-type Jaguar some 40 years prior, ending with the car broken in two....Thw race red flagged he promptly ran back to the pits for an on the spot medical from Syd Watkins, and jumped in the spare Jordan for the restart.
1997, Melbourne's' second year, Jacques Villeneuve looked set to win again for Williams, after dominating qualifying by a massive margin, but he was taken out on the first corner by Eddie Irvine, and so David Coulthard raced on to McLarens first AGP win since Adelaide in 1993. This race also gave Damon Hill an early indication that his run with the Arrows team, would not be smooth, as his car coasted to a halt on the parade lap, preventing him from even participating in his first title defending race.
1998, who of us will ever forget the season opener? A race that was won with such total dominance, and under a huge cloud. Once again David Coulthard looked set to win, after teammate, Mika Hakkinen, lost so much time in the pits. Learning of the Fins predicament, David slowed to let Mika pass, honouring a gentleman's agreement the two had made before the race. Fans all over the world went wild.
1999 saw Eddie Irvine take his first ever GP win for Ferrari although the Irishman had left for the Jaguar team for the 2000 championship.
2000 it was another Ferrari victory, this time a one two with Michael Schumacher claiming his first ever Australian win and new teammate Rubens Barrichello coming in second. The Australian race was marred by the tragic death of a safety marshal after a collision between the BAR of Jacques Villeneuve and the Williams of Ralf Schumacher.
2001 Michael Schumacher went on to take his second victory in the land down under. A new guy called Kimi Raikkonen turned up with the Sauber team, with only 20 car races on his CV, nothing with more than 4 cylinders and 200hp. He was only given a provisional FIA 'superlicence'. Peter Sauber had given him two half day tests in the off season, but had seen enough to give Kimi the ride, even though unlike the usual debutant Kimi didnt have a cent in sponsorship. By the end of 1st practice everyone knew who Kimi was, and Brundle said this was a star of the future. He ended up the weekend finishing in the points with a fine 6th place,and a faster lap time than his teamate.
2002. Michael continued his winning streak making it a hat trick of wins at Albert Park
...Being at the start of the season, the track is well known as a debut for many rookies, and local driver Mark Webber was immortalized when, after half of the field was decimated in another first corner melee when Ralf and Rubens touched, and Ralf literally flew out ofthe race, he crossed the line in his debut race in fifth place, driving the locally owned Minardi. Most of us saw or hoped this as the dawning of an era when F1 would dominate Aussie screens with the promises from our at the time new 'Home of Motorsport' and F1 broadcaster,
2003 David Coulthard won only one race here in Australia. The McLaren driver finished in front of Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya in second place and teamate Kimi Raikkonen in third position.
In 2004, Michael Schumacher was back in control leading home team-mate Rubens Barrichello in what would be a dominant season for Ferrari and Michael's seventh championship success.
2005 saw new qualifying rules, and an immediate weakness in the format with a downpour mid session, just as the quicker guys were starting to head out on their dry tyres and setup. Fisi thus was on pole with a protective layer of slow cars between him and the rain affected rear of grid starting quick guys. Other new rules saw no tyre changes and engines that had to last 2 races with penalties for changing them. Fisi, protected by slower cars, a freezing cold day, and tyres to last a race scooted off to win with ease from Rubens and Alonso. The new Red Bull (Jaguar) team ended up with both cars in the points whilst Honda saw a loophole in the engine rules, retiring both cars to the pits on the last lap to allow them new engines for the next race. (Ironically they both blew up in the opening lap!)
2006 saw the introduction of mandatory 2.4L V8 engines. The AGP was not the opening round, thanks to the Commonwealth Games, and had moved to the 3rd race. Tyre changes were back, and for Montoya so was drama, spinning his McLaren as he was just arriving on the grid trying to warm his tyres. Fisi stalled and the start was aborted. At the restart Button was in the lead in the Honda (oh how the mighty fall) A couple of laps into the race with cars going off everywhere we got the first safety car, which gave Montoya the chance to be the first GP driver to spin on the warm up lap and again behind the safety car. A couple of laps after the restart it was out again as Kliens RB was swept up. By pitstop time the front runners pitted leaving Mark in the lead in the Williams, on a one stop strategy. However the gearbox failed three laps later and Mark was another DNF.
Michael Schumacher got it wrong on the entry to the start finish straight and shredded his Ferrari opposite the pits, sending the SC out again and MS diving for cover in the Toyota pit. Cars dived for the pits and we had McLarens queued up whilst Kimi had a nosejob with an angry JPM behind. After the restart JPM was on a wild ride, wild enough to scare his McLaren into thinking it had had an accident and shut down its electrics as he flew over the kerb that had earlier claimed Michael. Alonso sailed on to highlight the Renault pace with a win from KR and a podium for Ralf in his Toyota. Toyota celebrated by sacking Mike Gascgoyne and have slid backwards ever since.
2007 and we had Bridgestone's control tyre, no MS, Kimi in Red, Alonso in Silver with a rookie teamate no one had heard of called Lewis something, Mark Webber back in the remnants of Jaguar, now with a Renault engine and called a Red Bull....
2007 Pole Position
1. K.RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1'26''072
2007 Result
Pos Driver Constructor Engine Laps
1 Kimi RAIKKONEN Ferrari Ferrari 58 1h 25m 28.770s ( 215.893 km/h )
2 Fernando ALONSO McLaren Mercedes 58 1h 25m 36.120s ( +7.350s )
3 Lewis HAMILTON McLaren Mercedes 58 1h 25m 47.365s ( +18.595s )
4 Nick HEIDFELD BMW BMW 58 1h 26m 07.533s ( +38.763s )
5 Giancarlo FISICHELLA Renault Renault 58 1h 26m 35.239s ( +1m 06.469s )
6 Felipe MASSA Ferrari Ferrari 58 1h 26m 35.575s ( +1m 06.805s )
7 Nico ROSBERG Williams Toyota 57
8 Ralf SCHUMACHER Toyota Toyota 57
Fastest Lap
1 Kimi RAIKKONEN Ferrari Ferrari 1'25''235
2 Fernando ALONSO McLaren Mercedes 1'26''314 1,079
3 Lewis HAMILTON McLaren Mercedes 1'26''351 1,116
Click for larger.
Reading a review of last years race I found it quite amusing.
Following Kimi's untroubled quickest in practice, pole, fastest lap and easy lights to flag win the review ended with this.....
All things considered we thought we would be in for a good season. But on that form could anyone beat Raikkonen?
That would take a Hollywood kind of script, surely......
Ha! Had someone written a script for what eventuated, they would have been locked in a padded cell and the key thrown away.
Little did we know what was in store, with prodigies, rookie records, Lewmacher Hamilton
(or is it Lew Hamilmacher - I think the latter is a bit more charismatic),we had cheating, bitchfighting, favouritism, blackmail, Spying, record fines, disqualifications, racial taunts with Spanish stalkers in Shanghai,.... plus we had a three way race off in the final round that saw the biggest come from behind winner in GP history, and a 2 time WDC sacked and unemployed. And F1 more popular than ever. Michael? Michael who?
And so we come to the big G-O-O-O-O-O-o for our possibly one of our last GP's GP, soon we fear to be replaced by some dollar laden GP wannabee such as the Unheardof GP, in the desolate and barren Unheardofland....
.
With all the comings and goings maybe we should remind ourselves of who is where in what:An at-a-glance list of who will be driving where in 2008 and the numbers they will be sporting. I have also added the drivers 2008 crash helmet design where available: For helmets the lower number driver is the helmet on the left.
Ferrari1. Kimi Raikkonen
2. Felipe Massa
Luca Badoer (test driver)
Marc Gene (test driver)
BMW Sauber3. Nick Heidfeld
4. Robert Kubica
Christian Klien (test driver)
Marko Asmer (test driver)
Renault5. Fernando Alonso
6. Nelson Piquet Jr
Romain Grosjean (test driver)
Sakon Yamamoto (test driver)
Williams7. Nico Rosberg
8. Kazuki Nakajima
Nico Hulkenberg (test driver)
Red Bull Racing9. David Coulthard
10. Mark Webber
Sebastien Buemi (test driver)
Toyota11. Jarno Trulli
12. Timo Glock
Kamui Kobayashi (test driver)
Scuderia Toro Rosso14. Sebastien Bourdais
15. Sebastian Vettel
Honda Racing16. Jenson Button
17. Rubens Barrichello
Alex Wurz (test driver)
Super Aguri18. Takuma Sato
19. Anthony Davidson
Force India20. Adrian Sutil
21. Giancarlo Fisichella
Vitantonio Liuzzi (test driver)
McLaren22. Lewis Hamilton
23. Heikki Kovalainen
Pedro de la Rosa (test driver)
Gary Paffett (test driver)
Race Date: 16 Mar 2008
Number of Laps: 58
Circuit Length: 5.303 km
Race Distance: 307.574 km
Lap Record: 1:24.125 - M Schumacher (2004)
F1 TIMETABLE
Fri 14 March 2008
Friday Practice 1 10:00 - 11:30
Friday Practice 2 14:00 - 15:30
Sat 15 March 2008
Saturday Practice 11:00 - 12:00
Qualifying 14:00
Sun 16 March 2008
Race 15:30
The TrackClickfor larger 
Car SetupMelbourne is a generally smooth circuit so the cars can be run low. Top end speed is important for the long straight sections between corners. It is equally important to have a good set of gear ratios for optimum acceleration out of the somewhat slow chicanes. As is always the case in race car setup, a compromise is needed. Good mechanical grip at the front end and the ability to turn well while braking is fundamental for the slower corners while aerodynamic balance is most important in the Turn 11-12 section. Good braking efficiency and stability is also crucial for a quick lap at Melbourne. How will the cars adapt with the circuit in no drivers aids format we have no idea, but we know the braking zones may coause more problems without the engiine braking the cars have enjoyed of prior years.
TyresBridgestone says this year's tyres will feature minor changes compared to last season's rubber. The allocations for the first nine races are the same as last year except for the Bahrain Grand Prix, which will now use the medium and soft compounds, as opposed to the hard and medium compounds in 2007. Australia, as last year will use the Soft and Medium compounds. With the tyres being so similar this year to last year no problems are envisaged with all data accumulated then still relevant this year
"We have made a minor evolutionary change to the construction of the dry tyres for safety and we have modified the super soft compound, but apart from that the tyres are the same.
"However, we should see faster lap times as teams and drivers now have a year's experience with these tyres and the cars are being developed all the time. For Bahrain, having looked at the data we accumulated last year, and data from the recent test there, we are confident about using softer tyres.
Just for entertainment valur here is a clip of the mass crash in 2002. To stop the clip embedding in the page , which upsets our dial up users , I have taken the dot out after www - just copy and paste the link into your browser and replace the dot.
http://www youtube.com/watch?v=ZiRq6RwHuOI
Topic: Round 1 Australian GP Tips (no discussion) Now Closed (Read 2480 times)
