Albert Park Circuit

The track was designed around the beautiful Lake Albert Park using mostly public roads, and in 1996 Melbourne hosted the first Formula 1 race. Since then, the race has become very popular among drivers and fans.

The layout is difficult and proven to be quite bumpy, especially under braking which is hard on brakes disks & calipers and requires a high downforce for its medium-speed corners and fast chicanes. Being a semi-urban layout, the track slips enough to start the weekend, but as the rubber is deposited on it the grip is getting better and times are improving up to 2 to 3 seconds per lap times during the weekend. This complicates the setup.

There are several very delicate curves and braking areas, and to set a good lap time the driver must push always as hard as possible, furthermore it’s easy to get past as the penultimate curve and this will result in a time penaly for last curve and affects also the speed of the finishing straight.

Race Date: 18 Mar 2012

Circuit Name: Albert Park

Number of Laps: 58

Circuit Length: 5.303 km

Race Distance: 307.574 km

Lap Record: 1:24.125 – M Schumacher (2004)