The 2019 Formula 1 season is only days away, as Albert Park transforms from a popular beachside suburb to an international hot spot.
Fans from around the world will soon flock to Melbourne to be part of the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2019, as the 70th season of motor sport’s premier open wheel category begins.
There has been a lot of driver movement over an exciting off-season with the biggest change being Australian Daniel Ricciardo’s highly publicised move from Red Bull to Renault.
Red Bull dealt with the loss of Ricciardo by bringing in Torro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly, while Gasly’s ex-team will head into the new season as one of four teams to have completely overhauled their driver line up from 2018.
McLaren, Williams and Alfa Romeo Racing are three other teams that also made wholesale changes to their driver line ups, with the three teams each handing one of the two spots to drivers from Formula 2 class of 2018.
Other notable changes include Kimi Raikkonen’s move to Alfa Romeo Racing, formally known as Sauber, while Ferrari replaced the Fin with the talented Charles Leclerc as it looks to halt Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ domination of the competition.
Remarkably only two teams out of the 10 have left their drivers unchanged with Mercedes and Haas opting for the same duo as 2018.
Kicking off with a new season launch on Wednesday evening, the international event will get underway bright and early on Thursday morning with the support categories taking centre stage on the first day.
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship will once again headline the five support categories with Porsche PAYCE Carrera Cup Australia, CAMS Australian GT Championship and Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli all back for another year, while the CAMS PAYCE Australian Formula 4 Championship will make its grand debut on the world’s biggest stage.
Fans will their get their first glimpses of Formula 1 at midday on Friday when the category takes to the track for the first of the day’s two practice sessions.
A third practice session on Saturday afternoon sets up qualifying later on that day before the first official race of 2019 gets underway just after 4pm local time on Sunday afternoon.
Click here to view the full schedule.
The Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2019 takes place at Albert Park in Melbourne from 14-17 March.
The Teams
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport
#44 Lewis Hamilton
#77 Valtteri Bottas
Scuderia Ferrari
#5 Sebastian Vettel
#16 Charles Leclerc
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
#10 Pierre Gasly
#33 Max Verstappen
Renault F1 Team
#3 Daniel Ricciardo
#27 Nico Hulkenberg
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
#8 Romain Grosjean
#20 Kevin Magnussen
McLaren F1 Team
#4 Lando Norris
#55 Carlos Sainz
Racing Point F1 Team
#11 Sergio Perez
#18 Lance Stroll
Alfa Romeo Racing
#7 Kimi Raikkonen
#99 Antonio Giovinazzi
Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda
#23 Alexander Albon
#26 Daniil Kvyat
Williams Racing
#63 George Russell
#88 Robert Kubica