01R3: Bull's Preview
G’day mates! Welcome to Albert Park and the Australian Grand Prix for round three of the 2024 Formula One season.
We may have been racing here since our inception as a team, but it took until 2011 for us to really start cooking down under. Sebastian Vettel broke the jinx by taking a win. He followed that up with a P2 in 2012 and P3 in 2013. In more recent years we’ve seen Danny, Max and Checo all take the podium in Melbourne, with Max taking his first win there last year, and lets not forget Checo’s epic run from the pitlane all the way up to P5.
Before we head back to the outback (sort of…), let us refresh your memory on some of the key stats from Albert Park:
- The street circuit has 14 turns – 8 to the right and 6 to the left.
- With a lap length of 5.278km, the Grand Prix will consist of 58 laps.
- Our very own Checo holds the lap record here with a time of 1:20.235, which he set last year in 2023.
- The Australian Grand Prix wasn’t held in Melbourne until 1996, and has actually seen 23 venues since its first run in 1928 at Phillip Island.
Now don’t forget, we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming this weekend so everything will kick off on Friday. Tune into Free Practice at 12:30PM local time to start the weekend the right way.
02Oracle Virtual Laps: Melbourne Edition
03R3: Race Schedule
04All About Oz With Max
Max-imum Celebration© Getty Images
It is always great to be in Melbourne
Max VerstappenWe are looking forward to racing in Melbourne this week. It is a very fast track layout now, which requires a good mix of getting straight line speed as well as decent grip in the corners, so it’s all about finding that middle ground. The recent resurfacing has made the track a lot smoother and fun to drive too, so we are looking forward to that. We also have softer compounds compared to last year, which will make it a bit more tricky for strategy, but hopefully means it is better for racing with more pit stops. Getting used to the jet lag is always a challenge down under, but it is always great to be in Melbourne regardless and amazing to see all the passionate racing fans coming to support!
05Albert Park Preview With Checo
Checo's Second Second Of The Season© Getty Images
It will be good to be back in Melbourne this week, it’s always a fun race week and the fans bring a great energy to the track. We have been working hard as a Team since Saudi to improve some areas we identified and I hope the car will be in a better window. I have been in Milton Keynes with my engineers and I am looking forward to seeing how we can perform with some minor changes. The car has felt competitive so far but Albert Park is a totally different test for the RB20 and it will be interesting to see how we match up. I think the field will be very competitive this weekend so it’s important we perform in qualifying to put us in a positive place come Sunday. Last year’s race here was a little crazy, so I hope it’s a slightly more straight forward weekend!
06The Weekend By Numbers
10Max goes for history again in Melbourne as he attempts to win a 10th consecutive race
