Video: Take a lap around the new Melbourne circuit in Australia

On Friday 8 April, the F1 drivers will take to the streets of Melbourne for the first time since 2019. In 2020 the event was cancelled at the last minute due to the coronavirus and last year it was clear that an Australian Grand Prix would not be an option. This season, the race is back on the calendar, with necessary changes to the circuit.

First of all, the circuit has become slightly shorter from 5.303 kilometers to 5.279 kilometers. The number of corners has also been reduced, from 16 to 14. In the first sector, the first and third corners have been widened to encourage overtaking. One of the biggest changes to the track is at the end of that first sector in turn six. That corner is now over seven meters wider. As a result, the organization expects drivers to go through the corner 70 kilometers per hour faster.

High speeds in Melbourne

That speed will increase even more in the second sector, because the chicane in turns nine and ten has been removed. The drivers will now come out of turn six at full throttle and then head towards the fast chicane, where the driver must rely on the car's downforce to the maximum. After that chicane there is a DRS zone, after which the drivers will enter the final sector.

In that last sector all the corners are 90-degree corners and the organization have also made these corners a bit wider, so that the drivers can drive more lines and have more chances to overtake. To what extent the changes will help, we will see next week when the drivers take the new cars on the track.