What will it be in Australia?
Let’s face it, who knows? But the person that guesses correctly the first two places during qualifications and the first two positions in the race gets – in addition to the chance of winning the offered prizes – a Play F1 Manager T-shirt worth 25 euro. Another Play F1 Manager T-shirt goes to the person that will guess the right number of cars that will cross the finish line at Melbourne. Note that the prize does not go to whoever says the number of runners in the race according to FIA, but to the person that will guess the number of those who will cross the finish line with all laps completed. Leave your comments with your predictions at the end of the article until Saturday, March 15, at 8 AM, when the Melbourne race qualifications start.
| Circuit characteristics | Numbers |
| Length of lap | 5,303km |
| Number of laps | 58 |
| Race distance | 307,574km |
| 1st place on the grid | leaves from the left side of the circuit |
| Fastest lap in the race | 1’24.125 Michael Schumacher in 2004 |
| Fastest lap | 1’23.529 Sebastian Vettel in 2011 |
| Maximum speed | 312kph |
| DRS zones | First and second straight line |
| Distance from the start to the first turn | 380m |
| Cars requirements | Numbers |
| Maximum acceleration | 71% |
| The longest period of acceleration | 843m |
| Aerodynamic downforce | High |
| Gear changes per lap | 54 |
| Fuel used per lap | 1.8kg? |
| Gain per lap by fuel consumption | 0.1s |
Most wins: Michael Schumacher – 4
For the first race, the analysis will largely be the one made for the entire championship and can be read here.
It is very difficult to say which will be the order, but certainly miracles will not happen overnight or within the two weeks elapsed from the completion of the tests. Therefore, we believe that whomever finishes the race will also get the points. Are you asking us if there will be 10-12 dropouts? We boldly and categorically say yes; we think that the number of dropouts will be similar to the above.
We initially said that there would be only about 6-8 dropouts, but after seeing the reliability issues that even Mercedes faced in the last days of testing, we kind of changed our minds. Frankly, we’d love to be wrong, so all 22 cars could finish the race and the fight be a bumper to bumper one, but this seems utopian, considering the new technical regulations in force since this season, especially those relating to fuel consumption.
The most reliable during tests seemed to be the Williams, Ferrari and Caterham teams, followed by Mercedes, Force India, McLaren and Sauber.
Available tires: soft and medium.
Qualifications: Hamilton, Rosberg, Massa or Vettel.
The race’s podium: Massa, Bottas, Alonso.