Formula 1 touches down again in Australia, as the country once again hosts the season opener. Australia was always a popular location for the season finale when it was held in Adelaide and when switching to the first race of the campaign in 1996, Melbourne’s Albert Park has become a favourite venue for many, with an atmosphere that captivates the city in a similar way to Montréal’s city race.
Although world championship racing did not take place until 1985, the Australian Grand Prix has an extensive history.
The first Grand Prix in the country is thought to have been in 1927 in Sydney, although information is sparse, while the following year saw the 100 Miles Road Race on Phillip Island, won by Arthur Waite in an Austin. The race was named the Australian Grand Prix in 1929 and was won by a Bugatti until 1932. 1935 was the last such race on Phillip Island, after which Victor Harbor hosted a South Australian Grand Prix in 1936, before Mount Panorama near Bathurst held the 1938 Australian Grand Prix and the town of Lobethal organised the 1939 event.
Post-war, the Grand Prix alternated between various states, including races on airfield tracks and street circuits. They included no less than Bathurst, Point Cook, Leyburn, Nuriootpa, Narrogin, South Port, Port Wakefield, Caversham, Longford, Mallala, Warwick Farm, Sandown, Lakeside, Surfers Paradise, Oran Park, Wanneroo, Calder and, Albert Park itself, in 1953 and 1956.
In the first race in Adelaide in 1985, Niki Lauda led on his final race until retiring with brake failure, while Keke Rosberg won in his McLaren from the Ligiers of Jacques Laffite and Philippe Streiff, the latter completing the podium despite having just three wheels properly attached to his car, with his front axle damaged after touching his team-mate.
1986 was the scene of Nigel Mansell’s dramatic failure to take his first championship. He headed into the race battling team-mate Nelson Piquet and McLaren’s Alain Prost for the title, and was set to take it when in a comfortable 3rd position on lap 64, his left-rear tyre exploded and Nigel struggled to control it, the blow out ending in a minor touch with the barrier at the end of a straight. Williams made a precautionary stop for Piquet and Prost took his first championship win.
1987 saw a Ferrari 1-2 with Gerhard Berger leading home Michele Alboreto and Thierry Boutsen completing the podium for Benetton. Prost beat his new team-mate and world champion Ayrton Senna in 1988, while 1989 was a wet one, stopped after 70 laps with 11 scheduled laps not run. Boutsen won for Williams. Pierluigi Martini, having qualified an excellent 3rd in his Minardi came home for the final point in 6th.
Piquet won in his Benetton from the Ferraris of Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost, while 1991 saw the shortest ever Grand Prix. Held in atrociously wet conditions, Senna won from Mansell and Berger after just 14 laps. The following year, Gerhard Berger took the win for McLaren, with the Benettons of Michael Schumacher and Martin Brundle filling the other steps on the podium. World championship-winning team Williams saw both their cars go out, Patrese due to an engine failure and Mansell retiring following an overtaking move from Senna, which also saw the Brazilian have a DNF.
In 1993, Ayrton Senna took his final Grand Prix win, with Alain Prost and Damon Hill following him home in their Williams cars, while 1994 saw the dramatic denouement of the championship battle as Schumacher drove into Damon Hill in a desperate last-moment bid to save his season after he had gone off and brushed the wall. Hill, having not seen the incident, did not hang back in his attempts to pass and was soon brought into the pits handing the German the first of his record-breaking seven titles. Meanwhile, Nigel Mansell, like Senna a year earlier, took his final Grand Prix win.
1995 saw a race of attrition, with just eight finishers and a dominant Damon Hill sealing the win by 2 laps. Olivier Panis somehow made it home 2nd in his Ligier despite a messy oil leak, while Gianni Morbidelli got Arrows’s penultimate podium and last for a year and a half before Hill took his runner-up slot in Hungary. It was in practice that Mika Hakkinen suffered a big impact, but he managed to return by the next race the following season.
That next one was the return of Albert Park. Jacques Villeneuve had something of a sensational debut, with pole position and almost the win, before an oil leak caused by an off-track excursion handed it to eventual world champion Hill. Martin Brundle had a dramatic barrel roll on the opening lap.
Other races of note include 1998, where McLaren dominated the first race of the new regulations with the narrower cars and grooved tyres, although there was controversy when David Coulthard was forced to move over for Mika Hakkinen, following a pre-race agreement about whoever got into the first corner first being given the right to win.
Last year, Sebastian Vettel got Ferrari’s season off on the right footing with victory from eventual world champ Lewis Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas completed the podium for Mercedes.
Circuit length: 5.303km
Number of laps: 58
Race distance: 307.574km
Dry weather tyre compounds: Ultrasoft, Supersoft and Soft
DRS Detection Zone 1: Before Turn 11
DRS Activation Zone 1: Between Turns 12 and 13
DRS Detection Zone 2: Just before Turn 14
DRS Activation Zone 2: On start-finish straight
Speed trap: At end of start-finish straight
Lap Record: 1:24.125 (2004 – Michael Schumacher – Ferrari)
First Grand Prix: 1927
First World Championship Grand Prix: 1985
First World Championship Grand Prix on current layout: 1996
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