2018 Australian Grand Prix
Vettel wins 48th career race in Melbourne; halo debuts; Leclerc and Sirotkin make first starts.
The 2018 Australian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 2018 Rolex Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 2018 in Melbourne, Victoria. The race was contested at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and was the first round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race marked the 83rd race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix – which dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928 – and the 23rd time the event was held at the Albert Park circuit.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was the defending race winner. Lewis Hamilton started the race from pole – his seventh pole position in Australia, a record for the event – while Vettel successfully defended his race win, the 48th of his career. It was the Grand Prix debut of future race winner Charles Leclerc, who drove for Sauber. The race was also the first race since the official introduction of the halo cockpit safety device.
It was also the first Grand Prix appearance/debut of Williams driver and former F2 driver Sergey Sirotkin, although he would retire the race on his race debut after a plastic bag entered his brake duct and was forced to pull off at Turn 13. This was the first race without a Brazilian driver since the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix.
Quick Facts
- Date
- March 25, 2018
- Circuit
- Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne
- Race winner
- Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
Lore & Background
The race marked the competitive début of the 'halo' cockpit protection device after 18 months of rigorous testing. The wishbone-shaped frame mounted above and around the driver's head was developed following a series of major accidents in open wheel racing, such as the death of Henry Surtees in a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch in 2009 and Felipe Massa sustaining a head injury from being struck in the helmet by a detached coil spring from Rubens Barrichello's car at the Hungaroring six days later. In response to concerns about the halo impairing drivers' visibility, the FIA lowered the starting gantries at circuits to improve the starting lights visibility. Furthermore, drivers were permitted to execute practice standing starts after the conclusion of both Friday practice sessions to acquaint themselves with the lowered gantries.
Reader's Guide
The Australian Grand Prix was officially confirmed as the first of 21 races of the 2018 Formula One World Championship in an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris in December 2017. It took place at the 15-turn 5.303 km Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Victoria on 25 March 2018. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought three types of tyre to the Grand Prix: three dry compounds (the purple-banded ultrasoft 'option', the red-banded supersoft and the yellow-banded soft 'prime' tyres).
In the week before the Grand Prix, race officials confirmed the inclusion of a third drag reduction system (DRS) zone. The detection point for the third zone was positioned on the approach to the turns 11 and 12 chicane with the activation point on the exit to turn 12. The existing DRS zones were unchanged from previous years, with one positioned on the main straight and the second on the straight between turns two and three.
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