Five reasons to be excited about Albert Park’s on-track action
Monday, 30 January 2023
The on-track action has been bolstered with F2® and F3®.
This year’s FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2023 is expected to be the biggest yet, with Hospitality, Grandstand and Park Pass (GA) tickets exhausting quickly for the weekend.
The appetite from Australian racing fans is at a fever pitch, and for a good reason, the on-track action is set to be mega in 2023.
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Below are the top five reasons you should be excited about this year’s highly anticipated event.
Oscar Piastri’s Australian Debut
The Melburnian will only have to wait until his third Formula 1® race for his first home Grand Prix.
After winning three championships on the trot, Piastri had to spend a year on the sidelines before signing a contract with McLaren for this upcoming season.
Expectations and hype are going to be strong for Oscar, and local fans are hoping he’ll be the one to finally take a podium for an Australian driver on home soil.
We still have to find out how competitive McLaren will be and how Piastri will stack up against his highly-rated teammate, Lando Norris.
New driver line-ups
Although the top teams have remained unchanged for 2023 in terms of the drivers, the mid-field and backmarker teams have gone through numerous changes.
Pierre Gasly will be joining Alpine, Fernando Alonso to Aston Martin, and Nico Hulkenberg will join Haas, just to name a few.
It’ll also be fascinating to see whether Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant can make an impact in their rookie seasons.
The hope for another DRS zone
One of the most anticipated aspects of the Albert Park track redesign was having a fourth DRS zone located on the back section just before Turn 9.
Unfortunately, it was scrapped following Friday practice in 2022 due to safety concerns.
There is optimism the DRS zone will return for this year’s event and could help to spice up the racing and generate more overtakes.
Formula 2® and Formula 3®
For the first time ever, Formula 2® and Formula 3® will be coming to our shores and we could not be any more excited.
These Championships are stacked with Aussie drivers, including Jack Doohan in F2® and Christian Mansell, Tommy Smith and Hugh Barter in F3®.
Doohan, in particular, will be expected to be fighting for the F2® championship, and with another year under his belt, it’s not out of the question.
It also provides the opportunity for Australian racing fans to see the stars of tomorrow before they reach the main stage of Formula 1®.
More competition for Verstappen
Despite Ferrari winning last year’s Australian Grand Prix, their championship challenge with Charles Leclerc faded quite early.
Max Verstappen dominated the rest of the season as Red Bull nailed the transition to the new car regulations and made far fewer strategy mistakes.
This year you can’t rule out Ferrari and Mercedes providing an extra challenge to the reigning champions.
The Silver Arrows finished off 2022 strongly and arguably have the strongest driving pairing on the grid.
If Ferrari can cut down on their mistakes, they could also take the fight to Red Bull.
