Drivers Face Off at Albert Park Track

Turn Five

An extremely fast corner, turn five could prove to be a lot trickier this year with less downforce on the cars. Back in 1996, when F1 first came to Albert Park, a lot of drivers were going off on this fast right-hander, but since then only a handful of drivers (Pedro Diniz in 1997, Alessandro Zinardi in 1999, Barrichello and Ralph Firman in 2003) have crashed at this corner.

It can be tricky as the track appears to be falling away from you as you turn in, and due to the trees hanging over the exit of the corner it appears tighter than it actually is. It is usually full throttle through here in qualifying, but expect some drivers to lift off slightly while on race fuel.

Turns Six, Seven, and Eight

Turn six is a very tricky right-hander, followed by a small left flick and long right-hander. This small sequence of corners is key to a very good lap here.

Turn six is made difficult not by the track itself, but by the trees hanging over the circuit which makes finding your braking point very difficult. In the dry the shadows from the trees make it diffcult to see, and in the rain the water holds in the trees, meaning that the conditions at the corner can change from one lap to the next.

Once the drivers exit turn six they are immediately into the heart of turn seven, which can unsettle the back end of the car and means the drivers have the feed the power in gently now with the absence of traction control.

This then leads into the long, right-handed turn eight which is easily flat when dry, but due to the highly glossed road markings can be very tricky in the wet.

Turns Nine and 10

This small sequence of corners in more tricky than it looks. You approach turn nine at a high speed causing some heavy braking into the corner, but as we have seen in the past it is easy for the drivers to put a wheel on the grass under braking and spin.

The key to getting these corners right is hitting the apex of the corner, getting right up on the inside curb, and getting the power on as early as possible through turn 10.

As the drivers exit turn 10 there is no room for error as the outside of the track is lined with a concrete barrier—get it wrong here and you have a big accident!

Turns 11 and 12

These are the fastest corners on the circuit and the two that the drivers enjoy the most. The cars approach turn 11 at roughly 175mph before touching the brakes, flicking down one gear and turning left, and straight away flick down another gear and turn right into turn 12.

The drivers can experience g-forces of up to 4.5g which gives you an indication of just how fast this fast chicane is. It isn't a surprise to see drivers running wide on the exit of turn 12 during qualifying and in the race, and expect one or two drivers to kick up the dust this year.

Turn 13

Turn 13 is the second best overtaking spot on the circuit, yet isn't as straightforward to overtake as first thought.

The approach speed is 180mph, giving a good chance for a slipstream, but the average speed of the corner means that the drivers don't spend that much time on the brakes, making it difficult to make an overtaking attempt successful.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?