Daniel Ricciardo believes changes made to the Australian Grand Prix track will lead to more exciting races in the nation’s biggest motorsport event.
Melbourne’s Albert Park, home of the Australian Formula One round since 1996, is undergoing its first overhaul in a quarter-of-a-century.
Australian GP chiefs expect lap times to be five seconds quicker and say the alterations will make for an improved spectacle – an assertion that the country’s only F1 driver Ricciardo agrees with.
“We want better races, more battles, and the changes are going to push us towards that,” said Ricciardo, who’s joined McLaren this season.
“I see all of the changes as beneficial. It’ll make the racing closer. I’m pretty confident of that.”
A number of turns are being widened, while the chicane at turns nine and ten will be removed to create a straight.
In all, seven of the 16 corners are being modified ahead of this year’s race, which has been pushed back until November as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Australian GP has traditionally been the sport’s curtain-raiser, and while popular among fans, the unique nature of the street circuit does not usually create a thrill-a-minute event.
Ricciardo was consulted, along with other drivers, about the changes and told the F1 official website: “Making race days more exciting for everyone is what we all want.
“A bunch of us drivers were consulted on the changes and I was happy about that.
“We were allowed to give our thoughts and input. Not all drivers will be aligned of course, but one thing we can agree on is we want to make Sundays, race day, better.
“I had that in mind when I had my input. Widening some of the apexes, creating more of a straight in some places to allow for an opportunity for more slipstreaming…that was the priority, and I’m very confident it’s going to be good.
“Every street circuit is a challenge, but Albert Park is pretty fast, which only adds to that.
“There’s a lot of fourth and fifth-gear corners and it’s pretty narrow at certain parts.
“It’s been somewhere that had been hard to overtake typically because of that width, and because it’s so fast in these cars, it’s even trickier to follow through the high-speed corner sequences.
“But changing some of the apexes and creating some more room, allowing more chance to make a diving overtake, or even change your line to get out of the dirty air, I think it’ll really help.”
Ricciardo, though, did admit to having mixed feelings about the removal of the turn nine-ten chicane, and its replacement with a straight and the possibility of an additional DRS overtaking zone.
“Removing turns nine and ten is a compromise,” he said.
“Turn 10 was always pretty challenging because you’d be exiting close to the wall – but the last couple of years, the cars are so good now that the traction out of ten is pretty easy and the wall wasn’t really a threat anymore.
“The car didn’t run out there as aggressively as it used to.
“So removing that chicane, you’re now going to have a massive tow out of turn six, which is going to be good with the additional DRS zone.”
This year’s Australian GP has been postponed until November 21 while last year’s race was cancelled after a McLaren mechanic contracted coronavirus in Melbourne.
© AAP
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