Pre-season testing is over, driver movements have been completed, a litany of new cars, engines and regulations have been brought in, and we’re guaranteed a new world champion. The Formula One season is back.
The Melbourne Grand Prix will open the Formula One season for the 19th time this weekend, with plenty of drivers looking to start the season strong and make a play for the title left vacant by Nico Rosberg’s departure.
With new bits and pieces of everything and a jam-packed opening weekend ahead of racing fans, let’s take a look at all the ins and outs of the Melbourne Grand Prix weekend.
The race weekend runs across four days – starting on Thursday, March 23 and wrapping up with race day on Sunday, March 26.
There will be no Formula One action on Thursday, however, there will be a host of other racing action, including the Carrera Cup, Australian GT and the Supercars.
The big guns get underway on Friday with two practice sessions across the day, then one more on Saturday before qualifying takes over in the afternoon.
It all culminates with the race itself on Sunday afternoon with the lights going out at 4pm (AEDT) for 58 laps of the fastest sport on the planet.
Thursday, March 23
| Time (AEDT) | Class | Event |
| 10:30 AM | Gates Open | |
| 11 – 11:40 | Formula SAE | Demonstration |
| 11:50 – 12:10 | Australian GT | Qualifying 1 |
| 12:20 – 12:40 | Carrera Cup | Practice |
| 12:50 – 1:20 | Supercars Challenge | Practice |
| 1:35 – 1:55 | Ultimate Speed Comparrison | Practice |
| 2:05 – 2:25 | Australian GT | Qualifying 2 |
| 2:35 – 2:55 | Carrera Cup | Qualifying |
| 3:05 – 3:25 | Ultimate Speed Comparrison | Demo |
| 3:40 | Australian GT Race | Race 1 |
| 4:20 | Carrera Cup Race | Race 1 |
| 5 – 5:10 | Supercars Challenge | Qualifying 1 |
| 5:20 – 5:30 | Supercars Challenge | Qualifying 2 |
| 5:45 – 5:55 | Supercars Challenge | Qualifying 3 |
| 6:05 – 6:15 | Supercars Challenge | Qualifying 4 |
Friday, March 24
| Time (AEDT) | Class | Event |
| 10:00 AM | Gates Open | |
| 10:20 – 10:35 | RAAF Rouletts | Air Show |
| 10:45 – 11:10 | Australian GT | Race 2 |
| 12 – 1:30 | Formula 1 | Practice 1 |
| 1:50 – 2:20 | Supercars Challenge | Race 1 |
| 2:30 – 2:45 | Ultimate Speed Comparison | Demo 2 |
| 2:55 – 3:20 | Carrera Cup | Race 2 |
| 3:30 – 3:40 | RAAF Jet | Air Show |
| 4 – 5:30 | Formula 1 | Practice 2 |
| 5:50 – 6:20 | Supercars Challenge | Race 2 |
Saturday, March 25
| Time (AEDT) | Class | Event |
| 10:30 AM | Gates Open | |
| 12:05 – 12:30 | Australian GT | Race 3 |
| 12:45 – 1:10 | Carrera Cup | Race 3 |
| 1:20 – 1:35 | RAAF Roulettes | Air Show |
| 2 – 3 | Formula 1 | Practice 3 |
| 3:20 – 3:55 | Supercars Challenge | Race 3 |
| 4:05 – 4:20 | Ultimate Speed Comparison | Demo 3 |
| 4:30 – 4:40 | RAAF Jet | Air Show |
| 5 – 6 | Formula 1 | Qualifying |
Sunday, March 26
| Time (AEDT) | Class | Event |
| 10:30 AM | Gates Open | |
| 11:30 – 11:55 | Australian GT | Race 4 |
| 12:30 – 12:45 | Ultimate Speed Comparison | Demo 4 |
| 1:05 – 1:35 | Supercars Challenge | Race 4 |
| 1:50 – 2:15 | Carrera Cup | Race 4 |
| 2:30 – 2:40 | Formula 1 | Drivers Parade |
| 2:35 – 3:20 | RAAF Roulettes and F/A-18 Jet | Air Show |
| 3:46 | National Anthem | |
| 3:48 | RAAF C-17A flyover | Air Show |
| 4 – 6 | Formula 1 | RACE |
Racing fans can thank a budding correlation between Channel Ten and Fox Sports for an all access presentation of the Australian Grand Prix, and the whole season for that matter.
Fox Sports have the rights to every single session of every single round of the Formula One season, and the entire Melbourne Grand Prix weekend will be live with the pay TV network releasing a 24-hour channel for the event, including all sessions and the race itself.
Channel Ten will have everyone’s free-to-air TV needs covered for those without a Foxtel subscription.
They will be showing the first two practice sessions on ONE on Friday, but Saturday and Sunday’s action will be on their main Ten channel.
Ten will be covering 10 of the 20 races live this season, with the remaining 10 being broadcast on a delay.
Formula 1 TV Times (All times in AEDT):
P1: Friday 11am – One/Fox Sports 5
P2: Friday 4:15pm – One/Fox Sports 5
P3: Saturday 1:45pm – Ten/Fox Sports 5
Qualifying: Saturday 5pm – Ten/Fox Sports 5
RACE: Sunday 4pm – Ten/Fox Sports 5
There has been some big movement through the off season, no larger than the acquisition of Valtteri Bottas by Mercedes after their reigning champion Nico Rosberg brought an abrupt end to his career.
Here’s the full paddock line-up for the opening round of the 2017 championship.
Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas
Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen
Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen
Renault: Joylon Palmer and Nico Hulkenberg
McLaren: Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne
Force India: Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon
Toro Rosso: Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz
Haas: Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean
Williams: Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa
Sauber: Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein
Qualifying is a highlight of the race weekend, with positioning on the grid being the difference between winning and losing in most cases.
A sloppy qualifying session can ruin an entire weekend, but it can also make one.
So with so much hanging in the balance, how does it actually play out?
There are three sessions that take place within one hour, running back-to-back-to-back until the grid is complete with short intervals between each session.
Times are reset for each new session as well so no existing fastest laps will carry over to the next round.
Qualifying 1
Qualifying 1 runs for 18 minutes with every car taking the track. The fastest 16 drivers will advance after that time is up and the remainder will take their position at the back of the grid in whichever order their times sit.
A driver is also knocked out of the first session if their time exceeds 107 per cent of the fastest time from the session. This can also knock them out of the race if the stewards want to go further with it.
Qualifying 2
The second session runs for 15 minutes and will cut the field down to 10 cars, with the slowest six racers from the session taking their place in the middle of the grid.
Qualifying 3
The final session is a 12-minute blitz with the top ten. It’s fairly straightforward, fastest times gets the best positions up the front of the grid.
Race Length: 58 laps (Or a two-hour time limit)
Race Distance: 307.6km
Track: Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Albert Park
Track Length: 5.3km
*All times in AEDT
When the lights go out it is 58 laps around the famous Melbourne circuit with 20 drivers scheduled to take part across the 10 teams in Formula One for 2017.
The drivers will be greeted with 16 turns over 5.303 kilometres of open track. The first corner of which carries the potential for the most carnage.
At the end of pit straight is a tight two-corner ‘S-bend’ where 20 cars will file and bunch into off the starting grid. It’s also a key overtaking point coming off the aforementioned main straight thanks to the DRS zone.
The two DRS zones are back-to-back at Albert Park. The first being along the main straight past the pits, and the second coming out of the first two turns and onto the second straight of the track.
The second DRS zone is the strongest overtaking zone. A good jump out of the first two turns and a DRS boost is a deadly combo leading into a potential late braking zone at turn three.
Nico Rosberg won the Australian GP last year so there will be no repeat of 2016 thanks to the German’s retirement.
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