Australian GP: Race guide

As the sun rises on the dawn of a new Formula One season, there are few better places to go racing than in Melbourne. Boasting slick organisation, friendly locals and the lively nearby St Kilda district, the teams all arrive at least a week in advance to adjust to the time zone and usually find time to host a number of PR events in the region. As most televised races are shown in the early hours the die-hard Aussie fans come out in force to the Grand Prix, helping to create a real party atmosphere for the season-opener. While Melbourne can’t be taken as an exacting guide to the season’s form, more often than not the man who wins this race will take the title come season’s end.

After pre-season testing we are still no closer to knowing the true competitive picture amongst the field, and the picture isn’t much clearer for the teams themselves. The general consensus is that the grid is much closer than in 2011, with McLaren looking like strong challengers to Red Bull from the outset and Mercedes making a step forward into the top three at the expense of Ferrari. The Scuderia’s troubles have been so marked that there is a real possibility the Lotus team, with ex-Ferrari World Champion Kimi Raikkonen back behind the wheel after two years out of the sport, could leapfrog the men from Maranello into an early fourth place.

In the midfield there isn’t much to choose between Force India, Sauber, Toro Rosso and Williams, with Caterham looking to join the midfield battle after moving clear of tail-enders HRT and Marussia last year. Neither of these teams managed any meaningful running with their new cars ahead of the season, as both missed all twelve test days in Jerez and Barcelona and had to resort to using a filming day, running on demonstration-spec Pirellis for just 62km, in order to ensure their cars will at least fire up in Australia.

Despite the ban on exhaust-blown diffusers, pre-season testing has thrown up the usual arms race with teams trying to find ways to retain some of the downforce lost under the new, tighter exhaust regulations. Red Bull produced a heavily-revised package for the final Barcelona test which appears to make use of the exhaust gases by blowing directly onto small winglets mounted on the inside of the rear wheels, as well as speeding up airflow around the sidepods which will have an aerodynamic benefit. The regulations say that any exhaust designs that redirect exhaust flow for principally aerodynamic reasons are not legal, so it will be interesting to see if Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey has again found a way round the rules.

The other dominant theme prior to the season has been the varying interpretations of the new nose height regulations. With nose heights now fixed at 55cm - but chassis heights unchanged - most teams have produced an unsightly step where the nose meets the chassis, with only McLaren and Marussia opting for more elegant, sweeping solutions. There is no conclusive proof yet as to which way is better, but from an aesthetic point of view, it is to be hoped the rules will be tweaked again so as to remove the term ‘platypus nose’ from the F1 lexicon.

Tyre wear: 4/10: Can be completed with one stop, but two is the way to victory in Melbourne.

Downforce: 7/10: High settings to carry as much speed as possible through multiple slow-speed corners.

Average speed: 7/10: Surprisingly fast track, with close proximity to the walls through the fast sections adding to the impression of speed.

Track difficulty: 5/10: Some challenging sections including the Turn 11/12 left-right section which can gain or lose you lots of laptime. There is good run-off space for a temporary circuit, so mistakes aren’t punished too heavily.

Overtaking: 3/10: Only five DRS-assisted overtakes last year, expect to see more with multiple DRS zones this time around.

Spectacle: 6/10: Scores higher for being the season opener, but races can be processional in the dry with the polesitter usually winning.

For a temporary street circuit, the average speed around Albert Park is around 130mph, but the cars are still set up with a reasonably high downforce package to maximise performance in the many second and third gear corners that make up the track layout. As it is only used for the Grand Prix, the track surface will have low grip in the early stages of the weekend, although its smooth surface and relatively easy kerbs mean the teams can run a stiffer setup to bring the cars lower to the ground and maximise downforce.

The high number of corners taken in second or third gear demand a car that is stable under braking, giving drivers the confidence to turn in with the knowledge that the back end won’t break away underneath them. Traction off those corners is equally important, with the power needing to be fed in cleanly to avoid spinning the rear wheels and losing vital tyre performance.

Sebastian Vettel kicked off the defence of his title in emphatic fashion, finishing more than 22 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton while Vitaly Petrov took his maiden F1 podium with third place for Renault. Jenson Button and Felipe Massa clashed on track at the fast Turn 11 left-right flick, and an impressive debut race for Sergio Perez was ruined when the rear wing of his Sauber-Ferrari was found to be outside the regulations. The Mexican was stripped of a superb seventh place earned through a one-stop strategy, thought to be a near-impossibility on the new fast-wearing Pirelli tyres.

Venue: Albert Park, Melbourne

Length: 5.303km

Laps: 58

Lap record: 1m 24.125s – Michael Schumacher, Ferrari (2004)

2011 Winner: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

GP History*: Adelaide 1985-1995, Melbourne 1996-present

* only races held as part of the Formula One World Championship are included