No one in the team minds the 21 hours it takes to fly to Australia when a venue as fantastic as Melbourne is at the end of it. The race weekend at Albert Park is a real pleasure, mainly due to the slick organization at the circuit, although the Aussie sunshine certainly helps!
The first race of the year is always exciting as everyone gets to see whether or not the work they have done during winter testing has paid off. The Australian race is famous for its high rate of attrition. Its 'Race One' and the teams may not have had time to 'de-bug' their new cars and, with the weather being as hot as it usually is in Melbourne, the heat only adds to reliability issues. Winter testing is carried out in the Northern Hemisphere so the new cars haven't been run in hot conditions so their cooling system haven't been proven and may not be able to cope with the rigours of the Australian climate.
As the circuit utilises city streets and is only used for racing once a year, the track is very dirty at the beginning of the race weekend. The dust and dirt soon clears though to reveal a smooth, although slightly bumpy track, that is kind to tyres. The circuit consists of mostly medium-speed turns and is pretty hard on the brakes.
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