Formula 1 News: 2025 Australian GP Race Preview

Formula 1’s popularity has never been stronger, as evidenced by the record attendance for the 2024 Australian GP at Albert Park. A total of 452,055 spectators attended across the four days, up from 444,631 in 2023.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Australia will open Formula 1’s season for a 23rd time, and for the first time since 2019, marking the start of a record-equaling 24-event schedule – the same number, and roster of events, as in 2024.

The Australian GP Albert Park Street Circuit, which first featured on Formula 1’s calendar in 1996, takes drivers through the leafy parkland a short distance from downtown Melbourne. Its temporary nature means the circuit has high track evolution, while there is an abundance of high-speed curves, with several turns having been reprofiled in 2022 to create faster cornering speeds. Gravel traps and barriers lurk close to the circuit edge, with the threat of a Safety Car period – or race suspension – never too far away.

Six years ago, it was starting to look like Australia had just about enough motorsports, with attendance numbers down in the 200,000s. Now, just a few days out from the 2025 event, it seems to be facing the opposite problem: too much interest to meet the demand. The Australian GP also has the highest female interest of all Formula One races globally, with 40 percent of racegoers identifying as female.

The Albert Park weekend is a firm favorite in the world of Formula 1, thanks to its stunning location and the buzzy atmosphere of host city Melbourne. The track itself isn’t too hard on tires, with degradation being a bigger factor than wear. It’s now the beginning of autumn at this time of year in Australia, and this can spring a few weather-related surprises, with temperature swings and rain all having made their mark on the race weekend in the past.

There’s a packed program of support races from Thursday onwards: as well as Formula 2 and Formula 3, there’s also the Porsche Carrera Cup and Australian Supercars championship, which means there will be plenty of rubber laid onto the track to influence grip levels.

Australia first joined the Formula 1 calendar in 1985, with the 37th edition taking place this weekend. Up to 1995, the Adelaide street circuit hosted the race before moving to Melbourne, which has been the Australian GP’s home ever since (with the exception of 2020 and 2021, when the race didn’t run due to the Covid-19 pandemic).

The most successful driver at the Australian GP is Michael Schumacher on four wins: all of which took place in Melbourne with Ferrari. The Maranello team’s 10 wins in Australia is beaten only by McLaren, on 11 victories. McLaren also has the most poles in Australia (10) while the driver with the most pole positions – eight – is Lewis Hamilton. In terms of podium finishes, Ferrari and McLaren hold the joint record with 26, while Hamilton is the driver who has been in the top three most times: 10. Red Bull has only won in Melbourne twice: in 2011 with Sebastian Vettel and in 2023 with Max Verstappen.

In 2022, for the first time in 26 years, significant alterations were made to the parkland circuit in order to promote better racing and facilitate more overtaking. This includes the widening of several turns, reprofiling of certain corners, with the biggest change being the removal of the old turn 9/10 chicane.

And this year the 4th DRS zone will again be used after being eliminated in 2022, which will obviously increase speed and therefore lap time and make it the quickest Grand Prix and the highest average speed ever in Melbourne.

 

Australian GP Weather Forecast

Friday, March 22: FP1 & FP2

The first practice session is set to take place at 12:30pm local time (AEDT), and currently, the weather looks bright with a zero percent chance of rain for the session and highs of 27 degrees Celsius, but it is expected to be misty with light winds throughout.

FP2 will kick off at 4pm local time (AEDT) and is set to run under similar conditions, with no chance of rain and a slightly hotter climate with highs of 28 degrees Celsius.

Saturday, March 23: FP3 & Qualifying

Saturday’s sessions at Albert Park will see teams return to their competitive run plans following the final practice session at 12:30pm local time (AEDT). FP3 will start with temperatures around 32 degrees Celsius, but still no chance of rain.

Qualifying will begin at 4pm local time (AEDT) and is expected to be the warmest session of the weekend with highs of 37 degrees Celsius. Light winds will persist despite the continued absence of rain.

Sunday, March 24: Race Day

The biggest question mark lies with the race itself on Sunday. Heavy showers are forecast for Sunday with a 70 percent chance of rain for the duration of this year’s first grand prix and wind gusts of 34mph. Can the Rainmeister Max Verstappen do it again in the wet?

Australian GP TV

ESPN Kicks Off New Season of Formula 1 Coverage This Weekend with Australian Grand Prix

All Races and On-Track Sessions in F1’s 75^th Anniversary Season to Again Air Exclusively on ESPN Platforms in U.S.

For First Time, ESPN+ Will Stream Two Alternate View Options for Entire Season

All F1 Academy Races, On-Track Sessions to be Featured on ESPN+

As the FIA Formula 1 World Championship celebrates its 75^th anniversary in 2025, ESPN begins its eighth consecutive year of F1 coverage with this weekend’s season-opening Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix. The race will air live on Saturday, March 15, at 11:55 p.m. ET on ESPN and in Spanish on ESPN Deportes.

For what many observers anticipate will be one of the most competitive F1 seasons in years, ESPN platforms will again air live coverage of all 24 races, with the races airing on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC. All practice and qualifying sessions and the six F1 Sprint races in 2025 also will be available for fans on ESPN platforms and ESPN Deportes is again the exclusive Spanish-language television outlet for F1 in the U.S.

Continuing its relationship with Sky Sports and its award-winning F1 presentation for race, practice and qualifying, ESPN’s full-season coverage also will include Sky Sports shoulder programming: the Grand Prix Sunday pre-race show along with the F1 Show, the qualifying pre-show, Ted’s Qualifying Notebook, the Checkered Flag post-race show and Ted’s Race Notebook.

For the first time, ESPN+ will offer race fans a full season of alternate viewing options, with two unique streams available for every race:

• Driver Tracker — a live, interactive tracker that plots the location of all drivers on track in real-time.
• Onboard Cameras Channel — an option that moves to different drivers’ perspectives throughout the race.

In addition, ESPN+ will simulcast live stream the five races that will air on ABC.

All live race telecasts will continue the commercial-free presentation used over the past seven seasons, a format that has set ESPN’s coverage apart and proved very popular with viewers. Mercedes-Benz returns as the race telecast presenting sponsor, while Liquid IV will again be the season-long pre-race Grand Prix Sunday telecast presenting sponsor. Heineken returns as sole sponsor of the pre and post-race coverage on ESPN’s signature news and information program SportsCenter.

Again in 2025, ESPN’s Laurence Edmondson and Nate Saunders will provide complete coverage of every F1 race across all global digital platforms, including exclusive interviews with drivers and team principals, as well as breaking news and in-depth analysis. ESPN’s coverage of F1 includes a dedicated site that reports on the championship year-round. ESPN’s F1 reporters also contribute to the video podcast program Unlapped, which appears year-round on the ESPN F1 YouTube channel. Also connected with the ESPN.com/F1 website are social handles @ESPNF1 on X, @ESPNF1 on Instagram and ESPNF1 on Facebook.

ESPN also will produce a countdown show for the Miami Grand Prix that will stream live in the hour prior to the race telecast on ESPN’s YouTube and Facebook accounts, as well

The past three F1 seasons on ESPN platforms have been the three most-viewed in history on U.S. television. An average of 1.1 million viewers watched races across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC during the 2024 season, tying the 2023 season average for the second most-viewed season. The all-time record average of 1.2 million viewers was set in 2022. The 2024 season included multiple viewership records, led by the Miami Grand Prix in early May, airing on ABC, setting the all-time U.S. television F1 record for a live telecast with 3.1 million average viewers. Seven races in 2024 set event viewership records and 11 races saw year-over-year viewership gains over 2023.

The growth of Formula 1 television audiences in the United States since the championship returned to ESPN platforms in 2018 remains a sports success story. Average viewership has essentially doubled from 554K in 2018 to 1.1 million in 2023 and 2024, a total increase of nearly 100 percent.

ESPN+ also will continue live streaming of all Formula 2, Formula 3 and Porsche Supercup races during F1 race weekends.

Australian GP USA TV Times

(all times Eastern)

Practice 1	Thursday, March 13	9:25 PM	ESPNEWS / ESPN+
Practice 2	Friday, March 14	12:55 AM	ESPN2
F1 Show		3:10 AM	ESPN3
Practice 3		9:25 PM	ESPN3 / ESPN+
Qualifying Pre-Show	Saturday, March 15	12:15 AM	ESPN3
Qualifying		12:55 AM	ESPNU
Ted’s Qualifying Notebook		3:00 AM	ESPN3
Grand Prix Sunday (pre-race)		10:30 PM	ESPNEWS / ESPN+
Race Broadcast		11:55 PM	ESPN
Driver Tracker		11:55 PM	ESPN+
Mixed On-Board Camera		11:55 PM	ESPN+
Checkered Flag	Sunday, March 16	2:00 AM	ESPN3
Ted’s Race Notebook		3:00 AM	ESPN3
Race (re-air)		3:00 PM	ESPNEWS
Race (re-air)		9:00 PM	ESPNEWS

Australian GP Race Insight

• Circuit changes: Major layout changes in 2022, including the widening of five corners and a new flat-out section in place of the former Turns Nine and 10 chicane mean that drivers and teams should already be to grips with a new-look Albert Park. Finding the limit and evaluating car and strategy implications during practice with this year’s cars will be a crucial task.
• Overtaking: With four DRS zones – more than any other 2024 circuit – and seemingly closer racing because of Formula One’s new regulations, and porpoising gone from this year’s cars, passing is expected to improve. The changes to the track layout at Albert Park for 2022 – combined with the new technical regulations – saw the number of on-track passes rise nearly three-fold compared to the last race on the old track layout in 2019.
• Strategy: Due to low tire degradation, the Australian Grand Prix has historically been a one-stop race but projected higher speeds, improved overtaking, potential increased tire wear and a reduced pit-lane time loss due to higher speed limits could make a two-stop strategy more viable.
• Safety Cars: The close walls of most street circuits, grass and gravel are both ready to catch drivers out in an instant.  Last year’s race featured three red-flags so be prepared for possible race stoppages
• Racing again in Melbourne is a fantastic indication of a progressive return to pre-pandemic normality. Traditionally, the street circuit nature of Melbourne has made for a fantastic technical and physical challenge for the drivers, but also led to difficulty in overtaking. The revisions to the layout and DRS zones have improved this, making it one of the very best circuits on the Formula One calendar.

Unlocking the Australian GP Lap

Turn One is a tight right-hander but the apex speed is more than 150km/h. The apex is also blind and Turn Two follows immediately after, setting up the long, flat-out run to Turn Three.

 

Located at the end of the first DRS zone, Turn Three is another tight right-hander that provides an opportunity for overtaking. However, it’s easy to lock the front-right tire under braking into the corner which can put you at risk of running wide into the gravel trap on the exit.

Turns Nine and 10 were spectacular corners before to the circuit alterations, but now they are more fearsome than ever.

At the fastest point of the circuit, it’s a small dab of brake on the entry to Turn Nine, before a second deft touch of the brake before Turn 10 and the high-speed run to Turn 11.

Fact File: Australian GP

• The Albert Park Circuit, modified prior to 2022 and thus shortened to 5.278 km, is a temporary track partially run on public roads. As part of the modifications two years ago, new tarmac was laid.
• 
• Melbourne has the shortest pit lane on the calendar at just 281 meters. Cars therefore spend only about 17 seconds at pit lane speed.
• A lap of Albert Park sees a driver make just 35 gear changes. This is the second-lowest total on the 2025 calendar after Monza.
• 71% of the lap time is spent at full throttle – also the second highest after Monza.
• The Turn 9-10 section of the lap will submit drivers to the highest Maximum Lateral G load of the season, at 5.1
• At the exit of Turn 6/Apex of Turn 7, the curb has been replaced by a ‘negative’ curb, designed to reduce the risk of accidents there seen in previous years.
• The barrier on the left-hand side has also been profiled to address this.
• The pit exit line has been repainted back to its 2018 configuration. The exit line now reaches further into the pit straight, enabling cars more run as they leave the pits.
• At 281 meters, the pit lane at Albert Park is the shortest on the 2025 F1 calendar. Cars will only spend 12.6 seconds driving through the pit lane when making a stop this weekend, quicker than any other track visited this season.
• This will be the 23rd time that Albert Park has hosted the opening Grand Prix of an F1 season, and the first time since 2019 it has raised the curtain of the F1 season.
• The Australian Grand Prix was the last race of the 1995 season, and the first of the 1996 – the only time in history the same Grand Prix has taken place in consecutive races.
• Albert Park is a unique, rare combination of street circuit and permanent racetrack.
• The fast-flowing Turn 9, Turn 10 sequence is a crucial part of the lap for the driver, and is where plenty of time can be gained and lost.
• With 72% of the lap time, and 79% of lap distance, spent at full throttle, Albert Park ranks third highest of any circuit on the calendar judged on both these metrics.

Pirelli Tires for the Australian GP

Having “softened up” its compound choices last year, Pirelli has confirmed the same three compounds for the opening round of 2025, with the trio of C3 as Hard, C4 as Medium and C5 as Soft.

However, compared to a year ago, the tires themselves have evolved in terms of the characteristics of both construction and compound. The former has been slightly modified to handle the increased aerodynamic loads likely to be generated by the final version of the current generation of cars.

As for the latter, the C3, the most versatile in terms of balance and degradation, is substantially the same as the version used for the previous two seasons, while the C4 has been modified to reduce the possibility of graining on the tread surface, as well as minimizing degradation, something that has also been applied to the C5 in order to expand its use as a suitable race tire.

A fortnight ago, in the Bahrain pre-season test, the C3 did the most work, completing over two thirds of the total mileage.

Teams and drivers therefore have plenty of data relating to this tire, which is quite similar to last year’s, although they will have to take into account that the Sakhir track surface has very different characteristics to the one they will encounter in Albert Park, which explains why in Australia the C3 is the Hard, while when the championship gets to Bahrain, it will be the Soft.