Bernie Collins discusses Australian Grand Prix strategy

Bernie Collins is the new analyst on Sky Sports F1 in 2023 — Photo: © LAT Images

Australian Grand Prix

Bernie Collins discusses F1 strategy for Australian GP

Bernie Collins has explained the tactical details ahead of the weekend's race

Chris Deeley

Thursday 30 March 2023 19:12 Updated: 19:17

It's difficult to get into the mindset of teams before they've even put a wheel on the track in free practice, but Sky Sports' Bernie Collins can probably get closer than most.

The 2023 addition to the Sky broadcast team has recently the head of strategy at Aston Martin, and she's been online talking about what the Pirelli tyres brought to the Australian Grand Prix could mean, as well as the changes made to the Albert Park circuit.

"The track changes includes pit exit," she wrote on Twitter. "This will mean cars emerging from the pit lane are forced to stay closer to the track edge initially but the free to choose any racing line earlier before T1."

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Whether that will have a material effect on the race is yet to be seen, but the ability to pick a line further in advance of the first corner could give a slight edge to drivers defending against the undercut – putting them in a better position to defend on their cold tyres if they come out a shade ahead of their rivals.

Tyred out

As well as the little tweaks to the track, there's another wrinkle for the tactics bods to factor in this season – with less of a distinction between the medium and soft tyres than in 2022.

While there are six tyre options offered by Pirelli this season, from the hardest (C0) to the softest (C5), they only bring three to each race – a nominal 'hard, medium, soft' trifecta.

The track changes includes pit exit. This will mean cars emerging from the pit lane are forced to stay closer to the track edge initially but the free to choose any racing line earlier before T1. #AustraliaGP pic.twitter.com/pu0QRRxM3L
— Bernie Collins (@bernie_collins1) March 30, 2023

Teams at last season's Australian Grand Prix had a choice of C2, C3 and C5, but this season the C5 has been switched out for the C4. That means that the performance advantage on the soft tyres will be flattened somewhat, but also that they should last longer around the streets of Albert Park.

"There is no extra step between Medium and Soft this year," Collins explained. "The Soft is C4 rather than C5 in 2022. Will we see more Soft tyres in the race as they should be more robust? As with other races so far in 2023 the Pirelli tyre pressure is reduced also."