Formula One returns to Australia for the first time in three years on Sunday, and Daniel Ricciardo hopes the break — and track renovations he had a say in determining — will help turn around his fortunes on his home circuit.
McLaren driver Ricciardo and his F1 rivals are preparing for a new Albert Park layout at the Australian Grand Prix.
Their first drive on the redesigned, resurfaced circuit is to be today’s two practice sessions ahead of qualifying tomorrow.
Photo: AFP
The Australian driver’s input resulted in two corners being removed and five others widened in a bid to offer more overtaking opportunities on the circuit.
“Not taking credit, but I was a little bit involved in the talks about revamping the circuit a few years ago when they had the first idea of what to do to try to make the racing a bit better,” Ricciardo said.
“It has always been a fun track, but on Sundays it has been a little bit tricky for overtaking just through the layout and the nature of it,” he said. “As a race now you’re going to see a totally different Sunday here in Melbourne.”
Defending F1 series champion Max Verstappen, who won the second race of the season in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago, said he is pleased to be back in Australia after the grand prix in 2020 and last year were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s been a while ... the atmosphere is always so good there, too,” Verstappen said yesterday. “It will be interesting to see the track updates, I think they will make quite a big difference, especially in turn 6, where the most significant change has happened. There should be more overtaking opportunities now, too, which is always positive.”
“It’s going to be interesting to see how the car performs in Australia, the track can sometimes be quite dusty,” he said.
Ricciardo said it was particularly hard to take when the 2020 event was called off while thousands of spectators lined up outside the gates to enter the Albert Park circuit.
“It was pretty heartbreaking and that’s from a selfish point of view as a driver, but for everyone that was here expecting to see a race, too,” Ricciardo said. “So very happy we’re back.”
Ricciardo has had a poor start to the season, finishing 14th in the F1 season opener in Bahrain on March 20 in a race won by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and failing to finish a week later when Verstappen won.
In Saudi Arabia, Ricciardo moved from 14th to ninth, and appeared set to score his first points of the year, but after being overtaken by his teammate Lando Norris, Ricciardo’s engine cut out with less than 15 laps to go.
In Australia, Ricciardo finished second in 2014 before his car was disqualified for breaking fuel flow laws.
His best valid finish is fourth, but he has failed to finish two of his past three races in Melbourne.
“Honestly, now that we’ve missed it for a couple of years, I’m just kind of thankful that it’s on the calendar,” he said. “Right now, it doesn’t really bother me where it is. As long as we’ve got an Aussie Grand Prix then I’m happy.”
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