The second race of the season takes place at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. It is an nice mix of low, medium and high speed corners, and since it’s first race in 1996 has been a very popular race. It has compiled a long list of stats over the years:
Circuit Stats:
· This will be the 15th world championship race at Albert Park since it held the season opener in 1996. It has opened the season for 13 of these years – the exceptions being in 2006, when Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games, and this year.
· Albert Park had previously hosted F1 races before, when it held non-championship races around its famous lake during the 1950’s. Drivers who took part included Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss. This also makes it the only venue to hold the Australian GP as a championship and non-championship event
· Albert Park is the second circuit to host a world championship race in Australia. The race was previously held on the temporary Adelaide circuit between 1985 and 1995, and was the end of season race instead of the beginning.
· Albert Park is one of the few circuits on the current F1 calendar to have hosted a race every year for the last 10 years and never had a reconfiguration to the circuit layout. The others are Sepang in Malaysia, and Interlagos in Brazil. The only change the circuit has seen was the straightening of the pit lane in 2004.
· Albert Park has seen the debut of 5 world champions – more than any other circuit. In order they are Jacques Villeneuve (1996d, 1997c), Fernando Alonso (2001d, 2005, 2006c), Kimi Raikkonen (2001d, 2007c), Lewis Hamilton (2007d, 2008c) and Jenson Button (2000d, 2009c). (d = debut, c = champion)
· Qantas Airways, Australia’s national airway, returns as title sponsor of the event for the first time since 2001. The race was previously sponsored by Fosters (2002-2006), and ING (2007-2009)
Team Stats:
· Ferrari are the most successful team at Albert Park, winning the race 6 times (Schumacher 4 wins, Irvine 1 win, Raikkonen 1 win). McLaren comes next with 4 wins (Coulthard 2 wins, Haikkinen 1 win, Hamilton 1 win), followed by Renault with 2 wins (Fisichella and Alonso), and Williams (Hill) and Brawn (Button) with one apiece
· Albert Park also seen the last time that a team failed to qualify both of it’s cars for a race. Back in 1997, the Mastercard Lola cars of Vicento Sospiri and Ricardo Rosset were over 11secs off the pace, and were well outside the 107% qualifying time
· McLaren took their first win for 50 races in the same race, when David Coulthard took victory – his first for McLaren and the team’s first with Mercedes power.
· A year later both McLarens lapped the entire field – the last time that this has happened in F1
Driver Stats:
· Nine of the current field of drivers made their debut at Albert Park – more than any other circuit in F1 history
· There is only four previous winners of the race in this year’s field – Michael Schumacher (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004), Fernando Alonso (2006), Lewis Hamilton (2008) and Jenson Button (2009)
· Felipe Massa has only finished the Australian GP twice in his F1 career. He finished 10th with Sauber in 2005, and 6th in his second year with Ferrari in 2007, when his then-team mate Kimi Raikkonen won the race
· Of the current field, only Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello have raced at both Australian GP venues
· Sebastien Vettel has failed to see the chequered flag in both of his previous races in Australia
· Mark Webber became the first Australian driver in F1 history to score points at his home race when he scored two points on his F1 debut in 2002. Since then, he has only scored a further 4 points at home, when he finished 5th for Williams in 2005. He has retired 5 times in 8 races at home
· Nico Rosberg needs to score 3 more points to overtake Stefan Johansson as the third most successful driver in F1 to have never scored a win. The list is topped by his team-mate – Mercedes reserve driver Nick Heidfeld
· Should Michael Schumacher take pole position in Australia, he will become the 6th oldest pole sitter in F1 history. However, if he doesn’t achieve this feat until China he will move above Nigel Mansell, who achieved his last pole at the age of 41 years, 97 days
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