Albert Park –
Laps: 58
2014 Winner: ROS –
1:32:58.710 (57 Laps)
Round 1 of the 2015 FIA Formula 1 season kicks off in Melbourne, Australia.
Part public road – part racing circuit, Albert Park’s varying nature makes driving and engineering no straightforward task.
Due to the circuit consisting mainly of public roads, the average corner speed is relatively low for a Formula 1 car.
This places less emphasis on the aerodynamic performance of the car, and more emphasis on mechanical set up.
Part public road – part racing circuit, Albert Park’s varying nature makes driving and engineering no straightforward task.
Due to the circuit consisting mainly of public roads, the average corner speed is relatively low for a Formula 1 car.
This places less emphasis on the aerodynamic performance of the car, and more emphasis on mechanical set up.
Aero
Characteristics of Circuit
Along with the usual DRS zone on the
Pit Straight, there is a second zone on the rundown to turn three. Providing
that somebody makes a slightly messy overtake when diving into turn one, the
trailing driver should be able to maintain a cleaner line through the chicane,
and therefore be able to use the second DRS straight to regain the lost
position.
This means that overtakes into turn one must be perfect to avoid handing the place back to the opponent.
This means that overtakes into turn one must be perfect to avoid handing the place back to the opponent.
Sector Two introduces
itself with a deceiving Turn 6. The entry of this corner allows you to bring
lots of speed in, but the exit quickly converges and turns into the left hander
of Turn 7. An optimised aero balance is key to keeping the car laterally stable
though this area of rapid direction change.
Sector
Three starts with Turns 11 and 12, probably the two fastest corners on the
circuit. Because they’re laterally harsh on the car, maximum downforce would be
desired to achieve an optimum apex speeds.
The
final corners up to the Start/Finish straight are all relatively slow speed
where downforce doesn’t provide the majority of the performance. This is a
characteristic that all street circuits share.
High downforce packages will be used in Melbourne thanks to the tight,
sharp corners. It is a necessity to extract as much downforce as possible on a
street circuit. The extra drag this induces is also a necessary compromise.
Tyres &
Strategy
Prime – Soft (YELLOW)
Option – Mediums (WHITE)
Option – Mediums (WHITE)
Tyre wear at in Melbourne is average, hence Pirelli occupying the middle
ground with the Soft and Medium compounds.
Last year, the Pirelli’s were generally quite lenient with degradation.
I can’t suggest anything as to how the 2015 tyres will degrade/behave,
but it’ll be interesting to keep an eye on to compare them to last year's Aussie GP
Mechanical Set
Up
The slow speed corners are almost all very sharp 90 degree bends. This
leads to ‘point and squirt’ driving with the throttle and steering wheel.
It is crucial that the engineers can set up the car for maximum
stability so that the power can be put down as effectively as possible without
tearing the rear tyres up.
The extra low roll centres that are induced by the new suspension
geometries probably won’t be so much of a problem as I initially expected.
Providing that the Anti-Roll devices loosen the car up enough, then the
tyres will be able to create more friction thanks to the lateral weight
transfer/roll. As usual, a compromise has to be made between sliding due to stiffness or rolling due to
