2007 Australian Grand Prix Preview
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by user Alex Holowczak
| 2007 Formula One Season | |
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The 2007 Formula One Season gets underway in Melbourne this weekend.
Melbourne
The city of Melbourne is one of the most popular visits on the F1 tour. F1 has helped turn Mebourne into one of the world's top sporting venues, and the Australian Grand Prix is now established as the season opening round. It is one of the most anticipated races of the season, and one of the most unpredictable due to the offseason testing and having never seen the cars in competition for that year. Over 100,000 people will cram into Albert Park come race day.
Melbourne boasts a street circuit, specially prepared for Formula One. The circuit in itself isn't that inspiring, but it provides enough challenge for a suitable opening race of the year.
The Form Guide
Nobody really knows who is going to do well this weekend. In preseason testing, the BMW's got out to an early lead, but it seems that Ferrari and McLaren have risen to the top of the timesheets. McLaren have had reliability problems with their Mercedes engines, which could be their problem. 2006 World Champions Renault haven't been too quick, and they are struggling so far this year. BMW are still probably third on performance so far in testing. Honda have been decent with their new Earth livery. The major disappointments have been Toyota and Red Bull. Much was expected of Toyota's big-spending team, but they still seem to be struggling to catch the strong teams of Formula One. Red Bull drivers David Coulthard and Mark Webber have similarly been annoyed with their cars poor handling. Spyker and Super Aguri feel confident of closing the gap. Super Aguri - effectively Honda's B team, hope to beat Toyota - a major coup for the Japanese manufacturing giants.
As for the race this weekend, you have to fancy the Ferrari's to dominate. They have the experienced drivers in Raikkonen and Massa. The two should have a good battle for the win, but I think Raikkonen should prevail. McLaren may give them a run, but unreliability could be their trouble. They have the best driver in Alonso, and a good Number 2 in rookie Lewis Hamilton. It should be a competitive race. Alonso will want to repeat his win of 12 months ago.
A lap of the track
Martin Brundle provides commentary of Jenson Button's 2006 Pole Position lap.
