2006 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX PREVIEW
Team McLaren Mercedes travels to Melbourne this week for
the 2006 Australian Grand Prix. The race, which is being held
at the Albert Park track for the 11th time, has moved from
its traditional position as season opener to the third race
of the year as Melbourne was hosting the 2006 Commonwealth
Games for two weeks in early March.
Following the Malaysian Grand Prix eight days ago, the MP4-21
race cars were prepared for the Australian race in Sepang
by the race team before being freighted to Melbourne late
on Monday 20th March. The freight was not delivered to the
Albert Park circuit until Monday 27th March due to the Commonwealth
Games. Some members of the team also travelled straight to
Melbourne, with others returning to the McLaren Technology
Centre in between the two races. Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo
Montoya spent a few days in Switzerland and Langkawi respectively
before joining the team in Australia on Monday 27th March.
Last week saw the test team return to track duties in Paul
Ricard in France, with Pedro de la Rosa running a new chassis
of MP4-21 and Gary Paffett at the wheel of the interim MP4-20.
Pedro continued the on-going development process for MP4-21,
whilst Gary worked specifically on the Michelin tyre programme
for Australia and San Marino.
KIMI RAIKKONEN
"After the first two races, I am really hoping to have
a trouble free weekend in Australia, as the car feels good
and I think that we can get some good results with it. I am
aiming to get a solid points finish at this race to take back
to Europe. Albert Park is a high downforce track and it has
pretty low grip, this is because the surface is always dusty
as it is old roads that are not used anymore. But this tends
to clean up quickly during Friday running and then the track
surface is fairly smooth. There are some hard braking zones
and sharp bends, which can be tough on the brakes and tyres,
such as into turn three, and demand good traction to be fast
out of the corners. The Australian race is one of the favourites
I think with most people in the sport, and there is always
such an enthusiastic atmosphere in Melbourne for the event."
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA
"It wasn't an ideal weekend for me in Malaysia, but at
least I finished fifth and fourth in the last two races. I
am now looking forward to racing in Melbourne and hopefully
challenging for a podium position. Albert Park is quite a
flowing circuit, with long, sweeping bends and quick corners,
so it is fun to drive and you can really build up a good rhythm.
There are some places on the track where you can pass, primarily
the right hander of turn one at the end of the main straight,
where your speed drops from over 300km/h to around 130km/h,
and also as you flow on through the curve of turn two that
immediately follows. Another chance is through the left flick
of 11, which is taken quite quickly at just over 210km/h in
fourth."
MARTIN WHITMARSH, CEO FORMULA ONE, TEAM McLAREN MERCEDES
"Following the Malaysian Grand Prix our test team returned
to the track last week, completing four intensive days at
Paul Ricard and covering over 3280km as we look to push forward
with the performance potential we have in the car. The work
completed in France has helped us to further improve the MP4-21
package. We are racing in Melbourne a month later than usual
and as a result we will be further into the Australian Autumn,
so we expect to see cooler ambients than normal at the event,
and also than those seen at the opening two rounds of the
Championship, as a consequence there will be less impact placed
on the cars and the personnel from the heat."
NORBERT HAUG, VICE PRESIDENT, MERCEDES-BENZ MOTORSPORT
"The Grand Prix in Melbourne will always be a special
one for us. Here we celebrated our first Formula One victory
together with McLaren in March 1997 and I will always remember
it with great pleasure. For the engines, the track is even
more challenging than the circuits in Bahrain and Malaysia.
More than 70 percent of a lap time at Albert Park will be
run under full throttle; this means almost three quarters
of a lap. However, the climatic conditions in the Australian
autumn are not as extreme as previously experienced in Malaysia.
In the first two Grands Prix Juan Pablo’s engine completed
1,162 kilometres in extreme conditions without problems. Unfortunately
Kimi was pushed out in Malaysia on the opening lap as a result
of a blameless collision. During the preparation for Melbourne
at Paul Ricard last week, our test team with Pedro de la Rosa
at the wheel of the new chassis no. 4 completed a total of
1,837 kilometres on three consecutive days with one engine.
On average this was more than two Grands Prix distances per
day that the technical package worked reliably. Particularly
for Kimi I hope for a race without handicaps before or after
the start which he unfortunately didn’t have in the
first two races without his own fault.”
USEFUL STATISTICS
Australian Grand Prix McLaren Team McLaren Mercedes Kimi Juan
Pablo
Circuit length 5.303 km Race starts 598 188 89 87
3.295 miles Race wins 148 44 9 7
Race distance 307.574 km Pole Positions 122 43 9 12
191.110 miles Points 3056.5 1149 287 290
Laps 58 Podiums 385 132 31 27
Inaugural race 1985 Fastest Laps 127 57 16 12
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