By Joe Murphy
Well, that was a long winter break wasn’t it! It feels like a lifetime ago we were in Abu Dhabi for the season finale. But the long, cold winter is over and F1 is officially back!
It’s been a year since Carlos Sainz produced an incredible performance to win the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. In doing so, he cemented a Ferrari 1-2 which came as a huge surprise at the time. Many started to doubt Verstappen’s outright pace and McLaren were absolutely nowhere. George Russell also crashed out on the final lap for a Mercedes double DNF.
This season is set to be better than the few previous, with competition not being this high since 2021 or even prior to the hybrid era entirely. Realistically, you could make a case for any of six drivers taking the title, with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen probably on the top of most people’s prediction lists. We’ll know more after this weekend when the first Grand Prix of the season, live from Albert Park due to Ramadan, is in the books.
Norris is the current favourite. Piastri is a hometown hero and would delight the crowd by taking a victory. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen could struggle, but rule him out at your peril. It will be interesting to see how his new team-mate Liam Lawson fares in the car that Sergio Perez struggled in.
Lewis Hamilton, fresh in his red overalls, will be hoping for a positive start to life at Ferrari. Charles Leclerc and George Russell, among others, will also be hoping to stamp their authority on preceedings.
Formula 1 first raced at Albert Park in 1996 and has been there every year aside from Covid affected years. It is set to host the event for the next ten years after a new deal was struck recently. The track changes seem to have helped the Grand Prix pedigree of the circuit. There are four DRS zones and the best places to overtake are at Turns 3 and 11.
It’s also forecast that showers could affect Qualifying on the Saturday and the race itself on the Sunday, making things even more exciting. That being said, is will be a hot race weekend with air temperatures in the high 20s, so tyre degradation could be severe and affect different strategies. This is even more relevant considering how little the teams and drivers currently know about their set ups.
For times and day schedules for the Grand Prix weekend, please see below. All times listed are in GMT (UK).
Thursday March 13
2.30am: Drivers’ Press Conference
5am: The F1 Show: Lights Out 2025*
9.45pm: F3 Practice
10.55pm: F2 Practice
Friday March 14
1:30am: Australian GP Practice One
2.55am: F3 Qualifying
3.40am: Team Principals’ Press Conference
5.00am: Australian GP Practice Two
6.25am: F2 Qualifying
Saturday March 15
00.10am: F3 Sprint
1.30am: Australian GP Practice Three
3.10am: F2 Sprint
5am: Australian GP Qualifying.
9.55pm: F3 Feature Race*
Sunday March 16
0.25am: F2 Feature Race*
4am: The Australian Grand Prix
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 