#1 ·
Australian Grand Prix - Central Park
March 29, 2009 - 8:00 AM
FIRST RACE: March 10, 1996.
The track length is sitting right at 5,303 meters.
Total laps completed: 58!191 miles)
Fastest lap of all time: Michael Schumacher clocked in at 1:24.125 back in 2004 driving that absolute beast of a Ferrari.
2008 Standings: 1. Lewis Hamilton - 2. Nick Heidfeld - 3. Nico Rosberg
HISTORY:
So, I was just thinking about how things used to be back in the day, specifically when the whole scene shifted in '96. That was the year they finally moved the Australian Grand Prix out of Adelaide and brought the action to Melbourne for the first time. It wasn't just a change of scenery, though; it completely flipped the script on the Formula 1 calendar by shoving the Australian Grand Prix right into that coveted number one spot to kick off the season. Honestly, people absolutely lost their minds over the schedule change at the time—there were protests everywhere, and even though the noise has died down significantly since then, you can still hear those old-school grumbles echoing around if you listen closely enough.
So, the track in Melbourne is tucked right inside the park, and honestly, it’s incredibly smooth—you won't find any of those nasty, sharp 90-degree hairpins that just kill your momentum and force you to slam on the brakes. It basically flows around the lake in a clockwise direction, which means when you're looking out at the layout, the view is absolutely breathtaking. Because everything about it is so fluid and visually stunning, it’s pretty much a unanimous consensus among the drivers that this is one of their absolute favorite places to race.
So, picture this: Damon Hill is still absolutely riding that high from winning the championship back in '95, right? Fast forward to the first race on this track in 1996, and he goes out there and grabs the win like it was nothing. It was wild because his new teammate over at Williams, Jacques Villeneuve, was looking like a total lock for it, but then his engine started acting up right toward the end, forcing him to back off. Talk about a rollercoaster.
So, looking back at that second race in Melbourne, it honestly felt like Jacques Villeneuve was absolutely killing it in that Williams car—he looked like the man to beat, seriously. He completely dominated qualifying and everyone was basically counting him out as anything less than a lock for the win, but then the race actually starts and everything just goes totally sideways. He didn't even make it past the very first turn before the whole thing went up in flames because he ended up tangling with Eddie Irvine, who basically just steamrolled him right off the track. Just absolute chaos right out of the gate.
That whole situation basically handed David Coulthard a golden ticket to snag his first win for McLaren, which was a massive deal since he hadn't pulled that off since back in the old days at Adelaide in '93. And honestly, looking back at that 1997 race, it wasn't exactly a victory lap for the guy who took it all in '96, Damon Hill—the poor dude couldn't even finish the race because he was struggling to keep that Arrows car on the track.
Man, that 1998 race was just pure McLaren dominance from start to finish, though looking back, the whole thing felt incredibly sketchy, like there was a massive question mark hanging over the entire event. David Coulthard was absolutely glued to that lead, keeping his teammate Mika Hakkinen at bay while Mika wasted a ton of precious time crawling through the pits. But then, out of nowhere, David actually slows down and just lets Mika slide right past him, all because of some "gentleman's agreement" they two had cooked up before the lights even went out. Honestly, the fans and die-hard F1 fanatics absolutely lost their minds over that kind of stuff—people were totally livid seeing those two drivers pull a stunt like that.
So, looking back at the history here, Ferrari actually snagged their first win on this track way back in 1999, with Eddie Irvine taking the top spot. And even though he eventually jumped ship over to Jaguar, Ferrari managed to keep that winning streak alive in 2000—only this time, it was Michael Schumacher pulling the trigger, marking his very first Australian Grand Prix victory. To make things even better for the Scuderia, his new teammate Rubens Barrichello managed to grab second place right behind him.
So, get this—over that two-year stretch, the guy taking home the trophy at the Australian Grand Prix didn't even budge. I mean, Michael Schumacher was absolutely dominating the scene, pulling off three straight wins like it was nothing. Just total, undisputed control.
Back in 2003, David Coulthard only managed to snag a single win, and honestly, he got pretty lucky doing it at Central Park. Things were getting wild right at the finish line when Juan-Pablo Montoya totally overcooked a corner, lost his grip, and sent his car spinning out of control. If things had gone any differently, David might have been in trouble, but instead, he cruised through to take second place right ahead of Kimi Räikkönen.
Man, I’m still thinking about how Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello absolutely tore it up at the season opener back in 2004, pulling off that first Ferrari 1-2 finish right out of the gate. Both of those guys were just untouchable the entire race—it wasn't even a contest, really. Even Fernando Alonso was pushing hard in that Renault, but he was basically driving in a different zip code, finishing a massive 34 seconds behind them. Just pure dominance from the Scuderia crew.
Just like it does every single year, Central Park was the place to be for the season opener of the Formula 1 world championship. March 6th is a date Giancarlo Fisichella is definitely going to be etching into his brain forever because the guy grabbed pole and cruised to his second career win, hauling in 10 massive points for the Renault squad. He barely held off Rubens Barrichello, who was sweating bullets trying to keep Fernando Alonso from snatching second place after the Spaniard showed some serious pace throughout the whole race.
It had been a decade since Australia hosted the season opener back in 2006, and man, what a chaotic mess that race was—we’re talking crashes everywhere and four separate safety car deployments, but Fernando Alonso managed to pull it off, edging out Kimi Räikkönen and Ralf Schumacher.
Then in 2007, Kimi Räikkönen snatched the win in his very first outing with his new crew, Ferrari, beating out the McLaren duo of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
Fast forward to 2008 at the Melbourne track, where Lewis Hamilton locked down his fifth victory for McLaren-Mercedes, leaving Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber to take second and Nico Rosberg in the Williams to grab third.
PAST WINNERS:
2008: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2007: Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari)
2006: Fernando Alonso (Renault)
2005: Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault)
2004: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
2003: David Coulthard (McLaren)
2002: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
2001: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
2000: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
1999: Eddie Irvine (Ferrari)
1998: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren)
1997: David Coulthard (McLaren)
1996: Damon Hill (Williams)
1995: Damon Hill (Williams)
1994: Nigel Mansell (Williams)
1993: Ayrton Senna (McLaren)
1992: Gerhard Berger (McLaren)
Friday, March 27th
Free Practice 1: 02:30 - 04:00
Free Practice 2: 06:30 - 08:00
Saturday, March 28th
Free Practice 3: 04:00 - 05:00
Qualifying: 07:00 (ESPN 2, 06:50h)
Sunday, March 29th
Race: 08:00 (ESPN 2, 07:50h)
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let the racing begin
