Australian Grand Prix Gets A Shake-Up

Here's what's new


Article heading image for Australian Grand Prix Gets A Shake-Up

There's little more than 3 weeks until Daniel Ricciardo, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are screaming around Melbourne's Albert Park circuit.

With that in mind, some track changes have been made to handle the quicker 2017-spec Formula 1 cars.

Just how fast you ask?

The mid-to-high speed corners will see speeds increase by as much as 50 km/h (!) and braking points pushed to an extra 20-30 metres.

That means lap times should dive by around 3-4 seconds a lap.

The insane new speeds have forced organisers to call for track reinforcements.

Tyre walls have been beefed up at Turns 1, 6 and 14.

There's also a new double negative kerb and a boatload of Tecpro barriers installed at Turn 12.

“If you stand here at the tyre wall and look back at the edge of the circuit, it gives you an idea of just how fast the cars are travelling,” AGPC's Craig Moca told motorsport.com

“The need to reinforce here even with the cars having to travel over the height of the gravel trap, it’s phenomenal.”

3500 barriers have been put in for this year's circuit build along with 6000 tonnes of gravel to slow the cars down should they venture off the racing line.

A staggering 51,000 tyres have been used as buffers if a driver gets into trouble.

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1 March 2017




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