MAJOR change confirmed for 2025 Australian GP

Australian GP, 2023, generic — Photo: © IMAGO

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MAJOR change confirmed for 2025 Australian GP

Melbourne's Albert Park is gearing up to host the first grand prix of the new season

Kevin McKenna

Saturday 1 February 2025 09:57 Updated: 14:47

Organisers of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix have confirmed a significant change ahead of the first race of the new season.

Preparations are well under way for the 2025 campaign, with excitement building for what fans hope will be a thrilling year of racing.

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Max Verstappen will once again be the man to beat as he goes for a fifth consecutive world title, and the Dutchman will have a new partner in Liam Lawson to contend with following the sacking of Sergio Perez.

McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will also look to mount a serious drivers' title challenge having secured the constructors' crown in 2024, while the arrival of Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari - alongside Charles Leclerc - has sparked hopes that the seven-time champion can return to the top of the pile for the first time since 2020.

The 2025 F1 campaign will get under way at Albert Park in Melbourne this March

Fans are counting down the days until Lewis Hamilton's first grand prix with Ferrari

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Albon and Russell incidents spark change

Albert Park, Melbourne, will host the 2025 curtain-raiser for the first time since 2019 on March 16, but following a number of incidents in last year's installment in Round 3, Turn 6 will look a little different.

Last year, Alex Albon damaged his Williams chassis beyond repair during FP1, before Mercedes star George Russell crashed out in the closing stages of the race, bouncing back on to the circuit after hitting the tyre wall at the same corner.

Niels Wittich - then FIA race director - flagged the spot as one which required attention following the race, and now an alteration has been made.

As reported by Speedcafe.com, it has been confirmed that the exit kerbing has been modified, artificial turfing behind it has been removed, while barriers have been shifted and realigned.

“There’s about a 90-metre kerb along there [at the exit of Turn 6],” said Tom Mottram, chief events officer for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.

“What it’s been in the past is about 50-odd metres of that was a bevel kerb, which is more on the entry to [Turn] 7.

George Russell crashed out on the penultimate lap in Australia last year

“What we’ve done now is actually just agree with the FIA that we change that whole kerb to a negative kerb the whole way, so you’re not having that kind of accelerating off that kerb once you hit the bevel.

“We added in half a metre of concrete verge before the gravel trap, again, just to allow a little bit of leeway there before getting into the gravel trap.

“And we’ve also moved back the barrier line there, the tyre bundles, the TecPro barriers, by two metres and actually added in more TecPro barriers at the end of that run and smoothened the taper to try and avoid that kind of bounce back into the track incidents that we’ve seen.”

The solution is designed to decrease the speed of drivers without tampering too much with the character of the track, and with the introduction of new engine regulations coming in 2026, officials were reluctant to make too many drastic decisions.

“We could slow it down a lot by completely changing that apex, but you lose the characteristics of that turn,” Mottram said. "It’s certainly a consideration where you don’t want to make a whole bunch of changes for one additional year, but safety is always paramount.

"That will always take first and foremost and then take each change year by year.”

Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Ferrari McLaren Sergio Perez Liam Lawson