Australian Grand Prix bosses are considering a number of bold changes to the Albert Park track ahead of this year’s race.
Due to current Covid-19 restrictions, it was decided last month to postpone the 2021 GP from its traditional March date until November to give the situation a chance to improve.
But with life pretty much back to normal in Melbourne, the delay has presented an opportunity to bring forward design tweaks which were already being weighed up for 2022.
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The hope with these changes is to improve the quality of racing around the street circuit, which has become known for producing processional races in recent years.
Although because of the surroundings, with a lake, golf course and regular streets all around, the layout will remain largely the same.
Still, under the plans, Turns 1, 6 and 13 are all expected to be widened to allow more side-by-side action, while the camber at T13 will be changed from -2 to +5 degrees to aid overtaking.
More significantly, the biggest change would see the Turn 9/10 chicane removed or at least made much faster, as well as a possible reprofiling of the Turn 11/12 chicane to allow the cars to follow more closely and create more of a slipstream opportunity down to T13.
Other more minor work will see the pitlane widened to try as well as the first resurfacing of the track since it first held F1 all the back in 1996, with the aim of both actions being to create more strategy options for teams on race day.
Interestingly, not included in the list of corners to be changed is the tight Turn 3, which has been the best overtaking zone for quite some time.
It’s unknown as of yet if all the proposed ideas will become reality but certainly, a faster, more demanding Albert Park would be welcome by everyone.
