The 20 gladiators of Formula One are looking forward to traveling down to Albert Park for the first race of the new season. This twisty fast speed circuit always produces thrilling action out on track making it an incredible season opener. The breathtaking speeds aren’t the only thing that's admired at this venue, as the crowd atmosphere is absolutely electric. 

Last season an estimated 452,000 plus fans packed the stands over the course of the four day event. This astonishing number set a new record for the most attended sporting event ever, in Melbourne, Australia. The Ozzie fans will be cheering on home favorite Oscar Piastri in hopes of seeing the Australian Grand Prix being won by one of their own. Now that we know some background knowledge about the race, let’s dive into its incredible layout, the most dramatic/epic moments, and race result predictions.

CIRCUIT LAYOUT

The Albert Park circuit was first introduced to the Formula One world in the year 1996. This venue is considered to have the best scenery on the calendar due to the beautiful lake water and luscious greenery that surrounds the track. In its original form, the track consisted of sixteen corners but since 2021, the track has changed to only fourteen corners. 

The tracks spans about 3.3 miles in length and the total amount of laps completed is fifty eight. This circuit contains four straights and four DRS zones which provides incredible overtaking opportunities. The corners that see the most overtaking action are turn one, three, and eleven due to them being located at the end of a DRS zone, which adds a lot of late breaking opportunities. 

The Australian Grand Prix contains corners that reveal the immense speed and downforce that Formula One cars produce. Specifically turn nine and ten are two corners which are absolutely mind blowing to see in person and on TV. Turn nine is a fast speed left hander which tests drives on how fast they are willing to enter the corner. Perfecting the entrance to the corner is pivotal because immediately after exiting the turn, turn ten approaches in a flash of a second. Turn 10 is an incredibly tight right hander with no room to under steer with all the pebbles being right next to the curb. This section of the track is very technical which can cause amazing overtakes and intense wheel to wheel racing.

DRAMATIC/EPIC MOMENTS

When Formula One fans think of dramatic moments at Albert Park, the first incident that comes to mind is Martin Brundle’s startling crash in 1996. As the cars were approaching turn three, drivers David Coulthard and Johnny Herbert made contact with one another which slowed them both down. Martin Brundle was directly behind the two so, with no time to stop, Brundle’s Jordan car crashed right into the back of both Coulthard and Herbert. Brundle was then sent straight up into the air, upside down over Herbert, which caused everybody to hold their breath. Once Brundle landed, he was then barrel rolled off the track into the run off area. Brundle did get out of the car perfectly fine, but the Jordan car was shattered into pieces. 

On a lighter note, another epic moment that occurred was Carlos Sainz’s brilliant win last year. If you take the race win for Carlos out of context, it dosent seem like anything that special. Verstappen had a right rear brake issue at the start of the race which put Sainz into the lead. Sainz then steamed rolled through the race and earned his third Formula One victory. But here's the catch, just two weeks before the Australian Grand Prix, Sainz was in the hospital getting his appendix removed. What happened was that right before qualifying in Saudi Arabia, Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis which forced him to miss the race and go to the hospital. 

His surgery and recovery went perfectly, but expecting him to be competing for a win at the next race in Australia seemed like an unprecedented task. But once race day came around Sainz had accomplished the impossible. What made this day even sweeter for the Spaniard was that his teammate Charles Leclerc finished second, which meant Ferrari celebrated both a one two victory and an emotional win for Sainz.

RACE RESULT PREDICTION 

Last season it was a bit easier to predict who would come out in front at the Australian Grand Prix because it was the third race on the calendar. We had seen in the races before that Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren were producing out on track so those were the team we were predicting to fill the podium. But that's not the case this year as the only performance we will have to base on is pre season testing and past race results which rarely fills the entire picture for which team/driver will be out front. 

With that being said, I believe that three different constructors will be standing on the podium this year. This year has the potential to be the most competitive of the ground effect era which makes it hard to believe that one team will dominant the first race. In terms of who will win the race, I believe it will either be Verstappen, Norris, or Leclerc. These three drivers have amazing qualifying pace and they have proved to us why they are championship level contenders. A wild card choice for the win is Lewis Hamilton but with his previous underwhelming qualifying performances I believe the other drivers will have the competitive edge on the British driver.