2012 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 20 in the 2012 Formula One season
Date	18 March 2012 (2012-03-18)
Official name	2012 Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix
Location	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia
Course	Temporary street circuit 5.303 km (3.295 mi)
Distance	58 laps, 307.574 km (191.12 mi)
Weather	Fine Air Temp 22 °C (72 °F)[1]
Attendance	114,900[2]
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:24.922
Fastest lap
Driver	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:29.187 on lap 56
Podium
First	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Third	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders <timeline> Preset = TimeVertical_OneBar_UnitYear ImageSize = width:250 height:300 PlotArea = bottom:20 left:40 Period = from:0 till:58 ScaleMajor = start:0 increment:5 ScaleMinor = start:1 increment:1 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.937,0.937,0.937) id:linemark value:gray(0.8) id:linemark2 value:gray(0.9) BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas PlotData = mark:(line,linemark) from:start till:15 color:red shift:(20,-5) text:Jenson Button (Laps 1–15) from:15 till:16 color:yellow shift:(20,-5) text:Lewis Hamilton (Lap 16) from:16 till:35 color:red shift:(20,-5) text:Jenson Button (Laps 17–35) from:35 till:36 color:blue shift:(20,-5) text:Sebastian Vettel (Lap 36) from:36 till:end color:red shift:(20,-5) text:Jenson Button (Laps 37–58) </timeline>

The 2012 Australian Grand Prix (formally, the 2012 Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix)^[3] was a Formula One motor race held on 18 March 2012^[4] as the opening round of the 2012 Formula One season. It was the 77th race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix that dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928, and the 17th time the event has been held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit at Albert Park.

The race, contested over 58 laps, was won by McLaren driver Jenson Button who took his third victory at the Albert Park Circuit. Reigning double World Champion Sebastian Vettel, driving for Red Bull Racing, finished in second place, while polesitter and Button's McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton completed the podium.^[5][6] Australian Mark Webber was fourth, his best result in his home Grand prix.^[7]

Report[link]

Background[link]

Mark Webber came into his home Grand Prix hoping to finish higher than his personal best of fifth place.

With Vitantonio Liuzzi unable to secure a 2012 seat and Jarno Trulli being replaced at Caterham during the pre-season, the race was the first Grand Prix since the 1973 German Grand Prix not to feature an Italian driver on the grid.^[8] It was also the first Grand Prix to feature six current and former Formula One World Champions taking part in the race.^[9] It was the first Australian Grand Prix to feature two Australians on the grid.

After using one Drag Reduction System (DRS) zone in 2011, the circuit featured two zones for the 2012 race.^[10] These were located along the main straight and between Turns 2 and 3, with a single detection point for both zones—similar to the format trialled at the 2011 Canadian and European Grands Prix—located at the entry to Turn 14.^[11] Other modifications to the circuit included the introduction of thicker, spongier astroturf on the exit of several corners to discourage drivers from driving beyond the limits of the circuit.

Mercedes were the subject of an investigation by the scrutineers over the use of a "radical" rear wing concept on the F1 W03.^[12] Charlie Whiting, the FIA's technical delegate, examined the car on the Thursday before the race and declared it to be legal.

Marussia had not run either of their cars prior to the season; Charles Pic (pictured) made his first Formula One start in Australia.

HRT experienced problems with the #22 chassis to be driven by Pedro de la Rosa on Thursday. Having completed a shakedown of the car to be driven by Narain Karthikeyan in Barcelona just two weeks before the Australian Grand Prix, the team were unable to complete work on de la Rosa's car in time for scrutineering on Thursday afternoon. The team requested a delay to the scrutineering process, with the FIA agreeing and allowing HRT until 11am local time to work on the car before presenting it to race stewards.^[13] The team ultimately passed scrutineering, allowing de la Rosa to take part in practice and the race,^[14] but they failed to have the car ready on time to take part in the first session.^[15]

Several drivers made their Formula One debut along with others taking part in their first Australian Grand Prix as full-time drivers. The French duo of Charles Pic and Jean-Éric Vergne made their Formula One debut driving for Marussia and Toro Rosso respectively. While Swiss-born Frenchman Romain Grosjean and Perth-born Australian Daniel Ricciardo came to Australia for the first time as full-time drivers for Lotus and Toro Rosso respectively, Grosjean had last raced in Abu Dhabi for the Renault F1 team in 2009 as teammate to Fernando Alonso. Ricciardo had never raced at his home Grand Prix.

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its white-banded medium compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound as the softer "option" compound, whereas last year the "prime" compound was the silver-banded hard compound tyre.^[16]

Free practice[link]

Michael Schumacher spun off at Turn 9 in the final practice session.

The first hour of the first practice session saw very little running, as the circuit was considered too wet for slick tyres, but too dry for intermediates. Consequently, most drivers only completed installation laps in the first hour, before emerging later in the session once a dry line began to appear. Kamui Kobayashi and the Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher set the pace, which was briefly interrupted by Karthikeyan's HRT cutting out on the approach to Turn 13, the engine automatically shutting itself off when the oil overheated. With de la Rosa's car not yet ready to take to the circuit, HRT finished the session without recording a single lap time. On his return to Formula One, Kimi Räikkönen experienced technical problems that limited him to just eight laps — later described by team personnel as making adjustments to the steering rack — while Felipe Massa spun out at Turn 9. Jenson Button finished the session fastest, with a late lap from Lewis Hamilton enough for second, and Schumacher half a second slower in third. Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel ultimately finished the session eleventh overall.^[15]

Felipe Massa was one of the drivers to spin into the gravel during the free practice sessions

Rain between the first and second session meant that the circuit was declared wet at the start of the second Friday session, with the water washing away the rubber than had been laid down by the first session and support events. The Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers were the first out, gathering data on the performance on wet tyres. A dry line began to appear after forty minutes, and it was Sergio Pérez who set the first representative time of the day. The final fifteen minutes of the session were dominated by drivers running on the soft tyres, with Michael Schumacher besting Nico Hülkenberg's fastest time by one tenth of a second on his final lap. Several drivers, including Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber and Pastor Maldonado went off the circuit, but the session passed without interruption. Kamui Kobayashi spun at the final corner and narrowly avoided the wall, whilst Narain Karthikeyan once again came to a halt on the circuit, this time at Turn 6 after the session had ended. With the team having successfully completed his car in time for the second session, Pedro de la Rosa was further paralysed by hydraulics issues.^[17]

The third session was warm and sunny (21^oC air temp, 29^oC track temp) and stayed much the same for the remainder of the weekend, allowing for significant running by all teams. Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher were once again the early leaders before Romain Grosjean set the fastest time in the final twenty minutes, only to be surpassed by Lewis Hamilton in the final minute. There was much attention given to Red Bull Racing, following team principal Christian Horner's claims that the team had not done any qualifying simulations. Their plans were thrown into disarray when Sebastian Vettel spun off at Turn 5 shortly after switching to soft tyres, and Mark Webber's fastest lap was ruined when Michael Schumacher spun off at Turn 9. Pedro de la Rosa managed to set his first timed lap of the weekend, but was forced to return to the pits with power steering problems. Projected lap times at the end of the session suggested that HRT would fail to qualify for the race for the second consecutive year.^[18]

Qualifying[link]

As a result of a six-car pile-up in a V8 Supercars support race held shortly after FP3, the exit of Turn 3 was covered with sand and fire-retardant foam. The accident resulted in a twenty-five minute delay to the restart of the race, and although commentators noted that the cars would move the debris off the racing line, the shortened race format meant that sand was still visible on the circuit at the start of qualifying.

HRT failed to qualify either car for the race; Pedro de la Rosa (pictured) and Narain Karthikeyan were both over one second beyond the 107% cut-off time.

The first qualifying period was marked by heavy traffic, with several drivers cited for blocking. Chief among them was Narain Karthikeyan, who impeded other, faster cars on three separate occasions. The expected running order was soon shaken up as the session ended with Kamui Kobayashi fastest ahead of Jean-Éric Vergne and Sergio Pérez. Felipe Massa was in danger of being eliminated until a late lap secured his place in Q2. When the chequered flag fell, it was Kimi Räikkönen who found himself in eighteenth place and eliminated from qualifying. Räikkönen ran wide on the exit of Turn 12, glancing the sandtrap and compromising his final flying lap. Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov finished in nineteenth and twentieth respectively, ahead of Marussia drivers Timo Glock and Charles Pic, both of whom were comfortably inside the 107% margin. The HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and Karthikeyan were not, however; de la Rosa was 1.2 seconds away from the cut-off, while Karthikeyan was 1.4 seconds short.

The second period was marked by a second shock elimination, the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. Five minutes into the period, Alonso crossed the outer edge of the circuit in the braking zone for the first turn and spun into the gravel. As he was unable to return his car to the circuit under its own power, he was prevented from taking any further part in the session. Consequently the session was reg flagged for approximately four minutes while his car was removed; eight minutes and twenty-two seconds remained on the clock for the session. He had been placed third at the time, but gradually fell down the order and was eliminated, ultimately qualifying in twelfth behind Vergne. Felipe Massa in the sole remaining Ferrari could do no better than sixteenth, culminating in Ferrari's first failure to advance at least one car to Q3 (in a dry qualifying session) since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Conversely, Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean both reached Q3 for the first time in their respective careers. Despite setting the early pace in Q1, Kamui Kobayashi was unable to duplicate his time and finished thirteenth, ahead of Bruno Senna and Paul di Resta in fifteenth. Kobayashi's team-mate Pérez did not set a time during the period owing to a gearbox fault, and so finished the session in seventeenth.^[19] At the conclusion of Q2, Rosberg set the fastest time of the weekend so far to lead an all Mercedes powered top four with Schumacher, Hamilton and Button following.

Fernando Alonso was eliminated in the second part of qualifying after spinning into the gravel at Turn 1. He qualified 12th behind the two Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso cars of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Éric Vergne.

The final period began with Rosberg and Schumacher attempting to set a time on used soft tyres. Rosberg made an early mistake, and while Schumacher briefly held provisional pole, he was soon unseated by Hamilton. Hamilton's time, the first and only lap of the weekend under one minute and twenty-five seconds, would remain unchallenged for the remainder of the period, despite a late effort from team-mate Jenson Button. Button ultimately finished a tenth of a second behind Hamilton, locking out the front row of the grid; the result was the first time since the 1995 Australian Grand Prix that two British drivers occupied the front row of the grid, and the first time since the 2010 Italian Grand Prix in which a Red Bull car failed to qualify on the front row of the grid. Schumacher's second flying lap was set on fresh rubber, and while he initially looked set to take third place, he had to settle for fourth after a surprise lap from Romain Grosjean placed the Lotus driver behind Button. Mark Webber qualified fifth ahead of reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who deliberately left his pit garage last so as to set the final time of the session, a habit he developed during the 2011 season. However, his final flying lap was not enough for anything more than sixth place, eight tenths of a second behind Hamilton. After making a mistake on his first flying lap, Rosberg made a second error while running on fresh tyres, and qualified seventh, with Pastor Maldonado in eighth and Nico Hülkenberg in ninth. Daniel Ricciardo finished tenth overall, having elected not to complete a timed lap.

Post-qualifying[link]

Both HRT cars failed to qualify within 107% of the fastest time set in Q1. Consequently, both cars failed to qualify for the race. Despite team principal Luis Pérez-Sala's prediction that the team would be unlikely to qualify for the race (and that they may not be able to qualify for the Malaysian Grand Prix),^[20] the team requested a special dispensation to race from the stewards on the grounds that, as both cars were not fully prepared to take part in the Grand Prix until the final practice session, the times set during qualifying were not fully representative of the car's ability to qualify for the race.^[21] The FIA later confirmed that neither car would be granted permission to start the race, meaning that the team failed to qualify for the Australian Grand Prix for the second consecutive year.^[22]

Several drivers, including Narain Karthikeyan, Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo were called before the stewards to answer to charges of blocking during the first qualifying period. However, no action was taken against any driver.

Despite Mercedes' rear wing concept being declared legal on Thursday, representatives from Red Bull Racing and Lotus F1 approached the race stewards and requested that the FIA review the original verdict after qualifying, claiming that the front wing system was in violation of Articles 3.15 and 3.18, which govern the use of DRS and driver-operated aerodynamic devices.^[23]

Race[link]

Bruno Senna was spun by Daniel Ricciardo at the first corner.

Jenson Button made the better start away from the line, leading the field into the first corner. Lewis Hamilton slotted in behind him in second place. Romain Grosjean was overwhelmed at the first corner and fell from third to sixth, while Mark Webber fell down the order after making contact and getting sandwiched in between Jean-Éric Vergne and Nico Hülkenberg. The contact was heavy enough to end Hülkenberg's race. Additionally, at the first corner Sergio Pérez, after gaining several positions from at the start, was unable to avoid the rear wing of his Sauber teammate, Kamui Kobayashi, leaving Kobayashi's rear wing damaged for the remainder of the race. Meanwhile, Bruno Senna's Williams was turned sideways with two wheels airborne above Daniel Ricciardo's front wing, as a consequence both cars pitted on lap 1 leaving them effectively last in 19th and 20th respectively. Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg settled into third and fourth before Rosberg was passed by Vettel. Grosjean made contact with Pastor Maldonado at Turn 13, the impact snapping Grosjean's steering arm and retiring the French driver on the spot. Fernando Alonso clawed his way up from twelfth to seventh. The minor placing benefited from the retirement of Schumacher on lap 10, when he ran wide across the run-off outside Turn 1 as he tried to nurse a gearbox problem, and he was seen limping down the approach to Turn 3. This left Vettel, who had been quickly catching Schumacher, in third place behind the two McLarens.

The first round of stops began with Felipe Massa on lap 14, the Ferrari driver complaining of a loss of grip in his rear tyres. Several other drivers pitted around the same time, foreshadowing a switch to a three-stop strategy. Meanwhile, Sergio Pérez went in the opposite direction; having started the race on the harder prime tyre, the Mexican driver stayed out longer than anyone else, once again aiming for the one-stop strategy he had used throughout the 2011 season. Button briefly yielded the race lead to Lewis Hamilton, but immediately took it back when Hamilton pitted on the very next lap. Hamilton's stop was significant as he emerged behind Pérez, who was matching Button's pace despite his older and harder tyres. This would ultimately leave Hamilton vulnerable to the third-placed Vettel. A radio transmission from Räikkönen broadcast where he asked his engineer if waved blue flags were for him despite being in 8th only 40 seconds from the leader, highlighting his two year absence from the sport.

Sebastian Vettel gained four places to finish second after overtaking Lewis Hamilton during the safety car phase.

Due to a steering problem, Vitaly Petrov retired his Caterham on the start/finish straight beside the pit wall. The position of the car was dangerous so the safety car was deployed on lap 37 to allow a truck to recover it. This led to a round of pit stops which, significantly, allowed Vettel to take second place from Hamilton. With the new rules allowing lapped cars to unlap themselves, Button now had to contend with Vettel, Hamilton, Webber and Alonso behind him. With the safety car returning to the pits after lap 41, Button opened up a three-second gap at the restart. Hamilton was unable to overtake Vettel for second place, and fell into the clutches of Webber in fourth. Pastor Maldonado harried Alonso for fifth, with a radio transmission from the Ferrari pit revealing that Alonso's tyres were quickly degrading. Maldonado was unable to find a way past Alonso, and ultimately crashed out on the final lap when he applied too much throttle too soon while still on the astroturf through the apex of turn 7. As a result of pushing hard in pursuit of Alonso and ten world championship points, his Williams was forced into a spin which he could not correct. He made heavy contact with the wall, but was not injured, and was ultimately classified thirteenth as he had completed 90% of the race distance.

Further down the order, Felipe Massa made contact with Bruno Senna at Turn 3, with the Ferrari and Williams continuing on for some distance as they tried to untangle themselves from one another. Both cars developed punctures, and retired from the race as a result. Senna was able to remain out on the circuit long enough to complete 90% of the race distance, and he was classified sixteenth as a result.

Sergio Pérez was the only driver to attempt a one-stop strategy; he finished eighth, having started from the back of the grid.

Jenson Button went on to win the race, his third at the Albert Park Circuit in four years. Vettel crossed the line second, two seconds behind Button, while Hamilton held Webber off long enough to finish third. Webber crossed the line fourth, his best result at his home Grand Prix. Maldonado's accident meant that Fernando Alonso finished the race a lonely fifth, with Kamui Kobayashi scoring eight points for sixth place.

Going into the final lap of the race, Pérez in seventh led Rosberg ahead of Räikkönen — who had recovered from seventeenth on the grid to be running ninth — and Jean-Éric Vergne, Daniel Ricciardo and Paul di Resta. Rosberg made contact with Pérez on the approach to the fast chicane at turns 11 and 12, allowing Räikkönen to overtake both of them. Vergne made a mistake at turn 13, opening the door for di Resta and Ricciardo to pass him, and the two fought over ninth place in a fierce sprint to the line. In fact, the racing was so unpredictable 8th to 11th position was separated by less than 0.4s. Räikkönen finished seventh ahead of Pérez (who like last year managed to complete the race with only a single pitstop), with Ricciardo finishing ninth ahead of di Resta in tenth, leaving Vergne to settle for eleventh. Rosberg, who had a left rear puncture from his earlier contact with Pérez, limped to the line in twelfth, twenty seconds behind Vergne. Maldonado's accident left him thirteenth, with Timo Glock in the sole surviving Marussia in fourteenth and one lap down on the leader.

Support events[link]

The event took place between the 15-18 March where throughout the weekend there was a range of support events. Taking part in the Australian Grand Prix program was the V8 Supercars (competing in a non-championship round) where they took part in four races for the 2012 V8 Supercars Albert Park Challenge; the second round of the 2012 Australian Carrera Cup Championship (3 races); the opening round of the 2012 Australian Formula Ford Championship (3 races); and the Shannons Group A/C Touring Cars (2 races). Returning from 2011 was the Red Bull race off and the Ultimate Speed Comparison novelty events. Off the track the Crusty Demons provided entertainment over all four days. Providing aerial displays were the RAAF F/A-18 Hornet Jets (17th and 18th) along with the RAAF Roulettes (15-18th).

Performing at the Sidetracked Music Festival, located at turn 6, on the 17-18th was DJ Grandmaster Flash along with Art vs. Science, The Potbelleez and The Stafford Brothers.

Classification[link]

Qualifying[link]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	Grid
1	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.800	1:25.626	1:24.922	1
2	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.832	1:25.663	1:25.074	2
3	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:26.498	1:25.845	1:25.302	3
4	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:26.586	1:25.571	1:25.336	4
5	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:27.117	1:26.297	1:25.651	5
6	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:26.773	1:25.982	1:25.668	6
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:26.763	1:25.469	1:25.686	7
8	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:26.803	1:26.206	1:25.908	8
9	12	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:27.464	1:26.314	1:26.451	9
10	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:27.024	1:26.319	no time	10
11	17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:26.493	1:26.429		11
12	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:26.688	1:26.494		12
13	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:26.182	1:26.590		13
14	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1:27.004	1:26.663		14
15	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:27.469	1:27.086		15
16	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:27.633	1:27.497		16
17	15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:26.596	no time		221
18	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:27.758			17
19	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1:28.679			18
20	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1:29.018			19
21	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1:30.923			20
22	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1:31.670			21
107% time: 1:32.214
23	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1:33.495			DNQ2
24	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1:33.643			DNQ2
Source:[24]

Notes

• ^1 — Sergio Pérez took a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.^[19]
• ^2 — Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan failed to set a lap time within 107% of the fastest time recorded in Q1. As a result, both cars failed to qualify for the race.^[22]

Race[link]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	58	1:34:09.565	2	25
2	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	58	+2.139	6	18
3	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	58	+4.075	1	15
4	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	58	+4.547	5	12
5	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	58	+21.565	12	10
6	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	58	+36.766	13	8
7	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	58	+38.014	17	6
8	15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari	58	+39.458	22	4
9	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	58	+39.556	10	2
10	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	58	+39.737	15	1
11	17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	58	+39.848	11
12	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	58	+57.642	7
13	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	57	Accident	8
14	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	57	+1 Lap	20
15	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	53	Oil pressure	21
16	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	52	Collision damage	14
Ret	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	46	Collision damage	16
Ret	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	44	Suspension	18
Ret	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	38	Steering	19
Ret	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	10	Gearbox	4
Ret	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1	Collision	3
Ret	12	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	0	Collision damage	9
Source:[25]

• Heikki Kovalainen was given a five-place grid penalty at the next race for overtaking cars on a restart prior to passing the safety car line.^[26]

Standings after the race[link]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Jenson Button 25 2 Sebastian Vettel 18 3 Lewis Hamilton 15 4 Mark Webber 12 5 Fernando Alonso 10

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Mercedes 40 2 Red Bull-Renault 30 3 Sauber-Ferrari 12 4 Ferrari 10 5 Lotus-Renault 6

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[link]

External links[link]

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Australian Grand Prix

Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit
Race information
Laps	58
Circuit length	5.303 km (3.295 mi)
Race length	307.574 km (191.071 mi)
Number of times held	77
First held	1928
Most wins (drivers)	Lex Davison (4) Michael Schumacher (4)
Most wins (constructors)	McLaren (12)
Last race (2012):
Pole position	Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.922
Podium	1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h 34m 9.565s 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +2.139s 3. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +4.075s
Fastest lap	Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.187

The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually and is held to be the pinnacle of motor racing in Australia. The Grand Prix is the oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia having been held 77 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. Since 1985 the race has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship. It is presently held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit at Albert Park in Melbourne. Prior to its inclusion in the World Championship it was held at a multitude of venues in every state of Australia. It was a centrepiece of the Tasman Series between 1964 and 1972 and was a round of the Australian Drivers' Championship on many occasions between 1957 and 1983. It became part of the Formula One World Championship in 1985 and was held at the Adelaide Street Circuit in Adelaide, South Australia from that year to 1995, before moving to Melbourne in 1996.

The Australian Grand Prix is the first round of the Championship, having been the first race of each year, excluding 2006 and 2010, since the event moved to Melbourne. During its years in Adelaide, the Australian Grand Prix was the final round of the Championship, replacing the Portuguese Grand Prix in that respect. As the final round of the season, the Grand Prix hosted a handful of memorable races, most notably the 1986 and 1994 events which saw those respective titles decided.

Australian driver Lex Davison and German driver Michael Schumacher are the most successful drivers in the 83 year history of the event taking four wins each; while McLaren have been the most successful constructors with twelve victories, their success stretching well back into the pre-Formula One history of the race.

The current naming rights sponsor of the event is Australian airline Qantas. The most recent Australian Grand Prix was won by British driver Jenson Button.

History[link]

Pre-war[link]

While an event called the Australian Grand Prix is believed to have been staged in 1927 near Sydney, it is generally accepted that the Australian Grand Prix began as the 100 Miles Road Race held at the original Phillip Island road circuit in 1928.^[1] The inaugural race was won by Arthur Waite in what was effectively an entry supported by the Austin Motor Company, a modified Austin 7. For eight years races, first called the Australian Grand Prix in 1929, continued on the rectangular dirt road circuit. This was the era of the Australian 'special', mechanical concoctions of disparate chassis and engine that were every bit as capable as the Grand Prix machines imported from Europe. For all the ingenuity of the early Australian mechanic-racers Bugattis dominated the results, taking four consecutive wins from 1929-1932. The last Phillip Island race was in 1935 and the title lapsed for three years. An AGP style event was held on Boxing Day, 1936 at the South Australian town of Victor Harbor for a centennial South Australian Grand Prix^[2] before the Australian Grand Prix title was revived in 1938 for the grand opening of what would become one of the world's most famous race tracks, Mount Panorama just outside of the semi-rural town of Bathurst. Only just completed, with a tar seal for the circuit still a year away, the race was won by Englishman Peter Whitehead racing a new voiturette ERA B-Type that was just too fast for the locally developed machinery.^[3] One more race was held at a giant South Australian road circuit near the town of Lobethal in 1939 before the country was plunged into World War II.

Post-war[link]

In the immediate post-war era racing was sparse with competitors using pre-war cars with supplies cobbled together around the rationing of fuel and tyres. Mount Panorama held the first post-war Grand Prix in 1947, beginning a rotational system fostered by the newly formed Australian governing body, CAMS.^[4] A mixture of stripped-down production sports cars and Australian 'specials' were to take victories as the race travelled amongst temporary converted airfield circuits and street circuits like Point Cook, Leyburn, Nuriootpa and Narrogin before, on the races return to Mount Panorama in 1952, the way to the future was pointed by Doug Whiteford racing a newly imported Talbot-Lago Formula One car to victory. Grand Prix machinery had already been filtering through in the shape of older Maserati and OSCAs and smaller Coopers but had yet to prove to be superior to the locally developed cars. The end of the Australian 'specials' was coming, but the magnificent Maybach-based series of specials driven exuberantly by Stan Jones would give many hope for the next few years.

Lex Davison, who for several years would experiment with sports car engines in smaller Formula 2 chassis, took his first of four victories in a Jaguar engined Formula 2 HWM in 1954, while the previous year Whiteford won his third and final Grand Prix as for the first time racing cars thundered around the streets surrounding the Albert Park Lake in inner Melbourne. That circuit, which for four brief years gave Australia the strongest taste of the grandeur surrounding European Grand Prix racing, was 40 years later very much modified, used to host the 1996 Australian Grand Prix as the modern Formula One world championship venue. The Grand Prix returned to Albert Park in 1956, Melbourne's Olympic Games year to play host to a group of visiting European teams, led by Stirling Moss and the factory Maserati racing team who brought a fleet of 250F Grand Prix cars and 300S sports racing cars. Moss won the Grand Prix from Maserati team mate Jean Behra. That 1956 race would inspire the next great era of the Grand Prix.^[5]

Tasman Formula[link]

The growing influence of engineer-drivers Jack Brabham and a couple of years behind him New Zealander Bruce McLaren would transform the race. Brabham, who first won the Grand Prix in 1955 in an obsolete sports-bodied Cooper T40 Bristol he had brought home from his first foray into English racing,^[6] would test new developments for Cooper during the European winter, beginning a flood of Cooper-Climax Grand Prix machinery into Australia and New Zealand before Brabham started building his own cars, as well as the appearance of Lotus chassis as well, finally killing off the Australian 'specials'. With European Formula One restricted by the 1.5 litre regulations and big powerful 2.5 litre Australian cars were tremendously attractive to the European teams and when BRM Grand Prix team toured Australia during the summer of 1962, the seed grew that became the Tasman Series.

The top European Formula One teams and drivers raced the European winters in Australia and New Zealand from 1963 to 1969 playing host to a golden age for racing in the region for which the Australian Grand Prix (and the New Zealand Grand Prix) became jewels of the summer. The popularity of the Tasman formulae was directly responsible for 1966s 'return to power' in Formula One, and having spent years developing with Repco the Brabham cars and eventually the Oldsmobile based Repco V8s in his Brabhams in the Tasman series gave Jack Brabham the opportunity to unexpectedly dominate Formula One with a ready-proven lightweight car that left Ferrari and the British 'garagistes' struggling with their heavy, technically fragile or underpowered cars until the appearance of the Lotus-Cosworth late in 1967.

The stars of the era all visited the Tasman Series, Jim Clark, John Surtees, Timmy Mayer, Phil Hill, Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Pedro Rodriguez, Piers Courage, leading teams from Cooper, Lotus, Lola, BRM, even the four wheel drive Ferguson P99 and finally, Ferrari, racing against the local stars, Brabham, McLaren, Denny Hulme, Chris Amon, Frank Gardner, Frank Matich, Leo Geoghegan and Kevin Bartlett. Brabham won the Grand Prix three times, McLaren twice, Clark twice, the second was his last major victory before his untimely death, winning a highly entertaining battle with Chris Amon at the 1968 Australian Grand Prix at Sandown Raceway. Graham Hill won the 1966 race with Amon winning the final Tasman formulae race in 1969 leading home Ferrari team mate Derek Bell for a dominant 1-2 at Lakeside Raceway.

Formula 5000[link]

By the end of the decade European teams were increasingly reluctant to commit to the Tasman Series in the face of longer home seasons, but also having to develop 2.5 litre versions of their 3.0 litre F1 engines. Local Tasman cars were declining as well and after originally opting a 2.0 litre version of Tasman to be the future of the Australia Grand Prix, the overwhelming support for the already well established Formula 5000 saw natural selection force CAMS' hand.^[7]

For the first half of the 70s, the Tasman Series continued purely as a local series for Formula 5000 racers, but by 1976 the Australian and New Zealand legs fractured apart and the Australian Grand Prix separated from the remnants and became a stand-alone race once more. During this era the former Tasman stars, Matich, Geoghegan and Bartlett would continue on as a new generation of drivers emerged, some like Garrie Cooper (Elfin) and Graham McRae developing their own cars while others like Max Stewart, John McCormack and Alfredo Costanzo using European built cars, mostly Lolas. Matich won two Grand Prix is his own cars before Stewart and McRae each took a pair of wins. Towards the end of the 70s the race again became a home to returning European based antipodeans like Alan Jones and Larry Perkins with Warwick Brown winning the 1977 race, while the previous year touring car racer John Goss completed a remarkable double, becoming the first and only driver to win the Grand Prix and the Bathurst 1000.

Calder Park[link]

Declining economy and the dominance of the local scene by Group C touring cars towards the latter part of the 70s saw Formula 5000 gradually fall out of favour. By 1980 the decision to replace was once again imminent however the form of Alan Jones in Formula One saw entrepreneur Bob Jane seize an opportunity to bring Formula One back as the Grand Prix Formula. The 1980 extravaganza held at Jane's Calder Park Raceway saw a combined field of Formula One and Formula 5000 padded out with the Australised version of Formula Atlantic cars, Formula Pacific.^[8] The newly crowned world champion, Jones swept the field aside in his Williams-Cosworth but with only two F1 cars entering and the continuing disintegration of F5000 saw Jane concentrate the next four Grands Prix on the Formula Pacific (later rebadged as Formula Mondial^[9]) category and importing Formula One drivers to race the locals in fields almost entirely made up of Ralt RT4s. Roberto Moreno dominated this era winning three of the four races, ceding only the 1982 race to Alain Prost. Jane's attempt to bring the World Championship to Calder Park ultimately failed as F1 would be tempted away by a far more attractive option.^[10]

Formula One[link]

Adelaide[link]

This section requires expansion.

Australia became part of the F1 world championship in 1985 with the last race of the season held on the street circuit in Adelaide. The Adelaide Street Circuit, which held its last Formula One race in 1995, has often been stated as being one of, if not, the greatest street circuits in the world. Whenever the teams came to Adelaide they enjoyed the party atmosphere.^[11]

Melbourne[link]

In 1993 prominent Melbourne businessman Ron Walker began working with the Kennett government to make Melbourne the host of the event. After the government of Jeff Kennett spent an undisclosed amount,^[12] it was announced in late 1993 (days after the South Australian election) that the race would be shifted to a rebuilt Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne. The race moved to Melbourne in 1996. The decision to hold the race there was controversial. A series of protests were organised by the "Save Albert Park" group, which claimed that the race turned a public park into a private playground for one week per year. Additionally, they claimed that the race cost a great deal of money that would be better spent, if it were to be spent on motor racing, on a permanent circuit elsewhere. Finally, they said that the claimed economic benefits of the race were false or exaggerated. The race organisers and the government claimed that the economic benefits to the state, although unquantifiable, outweighed the costs, and highlighted that the park's public amenities have been greatly improved from the World War II vintage facilities previously located at Albert Park; the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (scene of many Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games events) being the centre piece and best known of the revitalised facilities. Opponents of holding the race in the park point out that the Aquatic Centre adds nothing to the Grand Prix, is effectively closed for weeks surrounding the event and could have been built independent of the car race.

The idea of a permanent racing circuit has never really been addressed, but there is much speculation^[who?] that the real reason for a street circuit is to provide a distinctive backdrop for television - a permanent race circuit would be unidentifiable and, from the perspective of the Formula One organisers, may as well be held in Europe at much lesser cost and inconvenience to them.^{[citation needed]}

Demonstration event held in Melbourne just before the start of the 2005 Grand Prix

Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg at Corner 6 of the Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne

Bernie Ecclestone, the president of Formula One Management, the group that runs modern-day Formula One in conjunction with the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), once famously said that it took 10 minutes to do the deal with Melbourne that would see the Victorian capital host the Australian Grand Prix from 1996. It is thought that Melbourne’s unsuccessful quest to stage the 1996 Olympic Games, and the subsequently successful bid by northern rival city Sydney to host the 2000 Olympics, was a driving force behind Melbourne’s motivation to wrest the Australian Grand Prix away from Adelaide.

Albert Park, within easy reach of the Melbourne central business district, became home to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. A 16-turn circuit, which measures 5.3 kilometres in its current guise, was built utilising a combination of public roads and a car park within the park. The circuit is renowned as being a smooth and high-speed test for Formula One teams and drivers. Its characteristics are similar to the only other street circuit set in a public park currently used in the Formula One World Championship, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal which hosts the Canadian Grand Prix.

The promotional theme for the first race in Melbourne was “Melbourne – What a Great Place for the Race”. Some 401,000 people turned out for the first race in 1996, which remains a record for the event. The logistics of creating a temporary circuit and hosting an event of the magnitude of a Formula One Grand Prix from scratch weren’t lost on the international visitors, with Melbourne winning the F1 Constructors’ Association Award for the best organised Grand Prix of the year in its first two years of 1996 and 1997.

The move of the Australian Grand Prix to Melbourne saw a change in the time of year that the F1 teams and personnel made their annual voyage Down Under. Adelaide, for each of its 11 years, was the final race of the F1 season, usually in October or November, while Melbourne has been the first race of the season in every year since 1996 with the exception of 2006, when it was the third race of the year to allow for the Commonwealth Games to take place in the city, and 2010. As such, the Albert Park circuit has seen the Formula One debuts of many drivers in the last decade. 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve made his race debut in Melbourne’s first year of 1996, and became one of three men to secure pole position in his maiden Grand Prix. Other prominent names to debut in Melbourne are two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso and one-time champions Kimi Räikkönen (both in 2001) and Lewis Hamilton (2007), Australia’s only current F1 driver at the time Mark Webber, also made his debut there in 2002.

As part of celebrations for the 10th running of the event at Albert Park in 2005, Webber drove his Williams F1 car over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a promotional event, and the Melbourne city streets hosted a parade of F1 machinery and V8 Supercars, Australia’s highest-profile domestic motor sport category.

Races in Melbourne

It took just three corners for the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park to gain worldwide attention. On the first lap of the first race in 1996, Jordan’s Martin Brundle was launched into the air in an enormous accident. Footage of the crash, and Brundle’s subsequent rush back to the pits to take the spare car for the re-start, ensured the first race in Melbourne gained widespread coverage. The race was won by Williams’ Damon Hill.

2008 Race Winner Lewis Hamilton on the Podium with Nick Heidfeld

The 1997 race saw McLaren, through David Coulthard, break a drought of 50 races without a victory. The next year was a McLaren benefit, with Mika Häkkinen and Coulthard lapping the entire field en route to a dominant 1-2 finish. The result was clouded by controversy when Coulthard pulled over with two laps remaining to allow Häkkinen to win, honouring a pre-race agreement between the pair that whoever made it to the first corner in the lead on lap one would be allowed to win.

Ferrari won its first Grand Prix in Melbourne in 1999, but it was not with team number one Michael Schumacher. Northern Irishman Eddie Irvine took his maiden victory after the all-conquering McLarens of Häkkinen and Coulthard retired before half-distance. Schumacher broke his Melbourne drought the following year when he headed a dominant Ferrari 1-2 with new teammate Rubens Barrichello.

The 2001 event, won by Michael Schumacher, was marked by tragedy when volunteer marshal Graham Beveridge was killed after a high-speed accident involving Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve on lap five. Villeneuve’s B.A.R rode up across the back of Schumacher’s Williams and crashed into the fence, behind which Beveridge was standing.

The start of the 2002 race saw pole-sitter Barrichello and Williams’ Ralf Schumacher come together at Turn One in a spectacular accident that saw 11 of the 22 cars eliminated before the end of the opening lap. Michael Schumacher dominated thereafter to post a third straight Melbourne win, but his achievements were overshadowed by the fifth place of Australian Mark Webber on his Formula One debut. Webber, in an underpowered and underfunded Minardi, had to recover from a botched late pit stop and resist the challenges of Toyota’s Mika Salo in the closing stages, and took to the podium after the race with Australian team owner Paul Stoddart in one of Melbourne’s more memorable grand prix moments.

The next year, 2003, saw Coulthard again win for McLaren in a race held in variable conditions. Normal service was resumed in 2004 with the Ferraris of Schumacher and Barrichello running rampant – within two laps of Friday practice, Schumacher had obliterated the Albert Park lap record, and sailed to a crushing win.

In 2005, the race was won by Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella after a storm during Saturday qualifying produced a topsy-turvy grid. Barrichello and Fisichella’s teammate Fernando Alonso came through the field from 11th and 13th on the grid respectively to join pole-sitter Fisichella on the podium. In 2006, Alonso took his first Australian win in an accident-marred race that featured four safety car periods.

In 2007 Kimi Räikkönen in his first race for Ferrari, while Lewis Hamilton became first driver in 11 years to finish on the podium in debut, as he was 3rd behind his team-mate Alonso. Hamilton won the 2008 which had three safety car periods. In 2009 Jenson Button took the victory, driving for Brawn GP, which was having first race after Ross Brawn had bought the team following Honda's withdrawal from Formula One.

2010 again saw Jenson Button win at Melbourne. Starting from fourth, he gambled on an early change to slick tires under drying conditions that let him move up to second place after losing several positions at the start. Sebastian Vettel retired with mechanical issues after qualifying on pole and leading until his retirement, handing Button the victory.

Notable races[link]

1985

The first ever Australian Grand Prix to be included as part of the Formula One World Championship was also the 50th AGP. The new 3.78km Adelaide Street Circuit saw Brazilian Ayrton Senna on pole with a time of 1:19.843 in his Lotus-Renault. The race itself was a battle between Senna and Finland's Keke Rosberg driving a Williams-Honda for the last time. Run in oppressively hot conditions, the last race of the 1985 season ran to its 2 hour time limit but all scheduled 82 laps were run. Rosberg ultimately prevailed finishing 43 seconds in front of the Ligier-Renaults of Jacques Laffite and Philippe Streiff who actually collided at the hairpin at the end of Brabham Straight with only one lap to go when Streiff tried a passing move that resulted in his car suffering broken suspension, though not bad enough to cause retirement. Three time World Champion Niki Lauda drove his last Formula One race. After starting 16th in his McLaren he made his way to the lead by lap 57 but a lack of brakes cause him to crash into a wall in a sad end to his driving career.

1986

Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet in a Williams-Honda and Alain Prost, in a comparatively underpowered McLaren, were competing for the drivers' title. Mansell needed only third to guarantee the title, whilst Prost and Piquet needed to win and for Mansell to finish lower than third to take the title. Whilst comfortably in the top three with a few laps to go, Mansell's Williams suffered a spectacular mechanical failure, with a rear tyre puncture at very high speed near the end of the main straight creating a huge shower of sparks as the floor of the vehicle dragged along the bitumen surface. Mansell fought to control the violently veering car and steered it to a safe stop. Prost took the lead, as Mansell's teammate Piquet had pitted as a pre-cautionary measure, and won the race and the championship. Prost himself came incredibly close to failure, as his vehicle coasted to a halt on his victory lap, out of fuel.

1991

The race was notable for being held in extremely wet and tricky conditions and the race was eventually stopped on lap 14 of the scheduled 82 and Ayrton Senna was declared the winner. This race has the record of the shortest ever Formula One race as it only lasted 52 kilometres/24 minutes.

1994

Following his win at the Japanese Grand Prix, Damon Hill was now one point behind championship leader Michael Schumacher. Nigel Mansell was on pole but a poor start resulted in the two championship rivals Hill and Schumacher battling for the lead. But on lap 36, Schumacher went off the track, a result of oversteer, and this allowed Hill to catch up with Schumacher and take the inside line for the next corner. Schumacher turned in on Hill's Williams (whether on purpose or accidentally remains unknown) which sent the Benetton up on two wheels and into the tyre barrier, Schumacher retiring on the spot. Hill came out of the incident with a broken wishbone on his front-left suspension, he pitted and retired from the race, handing the title to Schumacher. The sister Williams of the 41-year-old Nigel Mansell went on to win the race, becoming the oldest Grand Prix winner since Jack Brabham in 1970.

2001 

The 2001 race saw Michael Schumacher take pole position and win the race and three drivers, Fernando Alonso; Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya, all made their Formula One debuts during this race. The race, however, was struck by tragedy in when a flying tyre from a crash between Williams' Ralf Schumacher and BAR's Jacques Villeneuve flew through a gap in the barrier fence and killed a volunteer track marshal, Graham Beveridge, who was 52 years old.

2002 

The 2002 event saw the best performance by an Australian driver since 1984 when Mark Webber, in the perennially uncompetitive Minardi, took advantage of the misfortune of other competitors, after a first lap pile up eliminated 9 cars, to finish an unlikely fifth, holding off a fast-closing Mika Salo in a much faster Toyota. He and the Australian-born team owner Paul Stoddart became instant national celebrities well beyond the motor racing world, the minor placing receiving far more attention in Australia than Michael Schumacher's win.

2008 

Lewis Hamilton won from pole in a chaotic race that featured 3 safety car periods. None of the six Ferrari powered cars made the finish in the blistering heat, and there were also the fewest number of finishers in a Formula One race since the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix.

2009 

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello scored a 1-2 finish for Brawn GP in the team's début race. The team was formed from the remnants of Honda Racing F1 who had withdrawn from the sport following the 2008 season. The race ended with Button, who had led from the start, leading the field over the line after the safety car had been deployed with 3 laps remaining following a crash between Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica, who had been fighting for 2nd. Toyota's Jarno Trulli was given a 25 second penalty for passing Lewis Hamilton for 3rd place under yellow flags during that safety car period, which promoted Hamilton into that position. However, Hamilton was later disqualified and docked his points for "deliberately misleading stewards",^[13] with Trulli reinstated in third. The results earned by Brawn, Williams, and Toyota were awarded, despite an appeal being held two weeks later against a ruling on the legality of the teams' diffuser design.^[14] The outcome of the appeal was in favour of the teams and that their diffusers were legal under the new rules and there were no changes to the results of the race.

Spectator attendance since 1995[link]

Celebrity Challenge, 2008 GP

Jenson Button, winner of the 2010 Australian Grand Prix

Following the move of the Australian Grand Prix to Melbourne, spectator attendance peaked at 401,000 in 1996, but have never reached that of the last Adelaide race in 1995.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, the global financial crisis, higher unemployment and a snap public transport strike^[15] were cited by Victorian Premier John Brumby as a reason for a slight drop in crowds.^[16] Attendance numbers improved in 2010 to an estimate of 305,000 - the largest since the 2005 race.^{[citation needed]}

Attendance numbers have been as follows:

• 1995 (Adelaide) - 520,000^{[citation needed]}
• 1996 (Melbourne) - 401,000^{[citation needed]}
• 2004 - 360,885^[17] (121,500 Race Day)
• 2005 - 359,000^[18]
• 2006 - 301,500^[19] (103,000 Race Day)
• 2007 - 301,000^[20] (105,000 Race Day)
• 2008 - 303,000^[21] (108,000 Race Day)
• 2009 - 286,900^[16]
• 2010 - 305,000^[22] (108,500 Race Day)
• 2011 - 298,000
• 2012 - 313,700^[23] (114,900 Race Day)

Future[link]

The Australian Grand Prix will be held in Melbourne until at least 2015.^[24]

Sponsors[link]

Mitsubishi Australian Grand Prix 1985
Foster's Australian Grand Prix 1986–1993, 2002–2006
Sensational Adelaide Australian Grand Prix 1994
EDS Australian Grand Prix 1995
Transurban Australian Grand Prix 1996
Qantas Australian Grand Prix 1997–2001, 2010–2012
ING Australian Grand Prix 2007-2009

Winners[link]

Multiple winners (drivers)[link]

Wins which did not count towards the Formula One World Championship are indicated by a pink background.

As of November 2011 three times World Drivers' Champion Alain Prost from France remains the only driver to win the AGP in both World Championship and domestic formats winning the Australian Drivers' Championship 1982 race before winning in Adelaide in 1986 and 1988.

Number of wins	Driver	Years Won
4	Lex Davison	1954, 1957, 1958, 1961
	Michael Schumacher	2000, 2001, 2002, 2004
3	Bill Thompson	1930, 1932, 1933
	Doug Whiteford	1950, 1952, 1953
	Jack Brabham	1955, 1963, 1964
	Graham McRae	1972, 1973, 1978
	Roberto Moreno	1981, 1983, 1984
	Alain Prost	1982,	1986, 1988
	Jenson Button	2009, 2010, 2012
2	Les Murphy	1935, 1937
	Bruce McLaren	1962, 1965
	Frank Matich	1970, 1971
	Max Stewart	1974, 1975
	Gerhard Berger	1987, 1992
	Ayrton Senna	1991, 1993
	Damon Hill	1995, 1996
	David Coulthard	1997, 2003

Multiple winners (constructors)[link]

Embolded constructors are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season
A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.

Number of wins	Constructor	Years Won
12	McLaren	1970, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2012
10	Ferrari	1957, 1958, 1969, 1987, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007
6	Williams	1980, 1985, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1996
5	Cooper	1955, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965
4	Bugatti	1929, 1930, 1931, 1932
	MG	1935, 1937, 1939, 1947
	Lola	1974, 1975, 1977, 1979
	Ralt	1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
2	Talbot-Lago	1952, 1953
	Maserati	1956, 1959
	Brabham	1963, 1964
	BRM	1966, 1967
	Matich	1971, 1976
	McRae	1973, 1978
	Renault	2005, 2006

By year[link]

Adelaide, used in Formula One from 1985-1995

Events which were not part of the Formula One World Championship are indicated by a pink background.

Year	Driver	Constructor	Location	Report
2012	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	Albert Park	Report
2011	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault		Report
2010	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes		Report
2009	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes		Report
2008	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes		Report
2007	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari		Report
2006	Fernando Alonso	Renault		Report
2005	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault		Report
2004	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari		Report
2003	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes		Report
2002	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari		Report
2001	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari		Report
2000	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari		Report
1999	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari		Report
1998	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes		Report
1997	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes		Report
1996	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault		Report
1995	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	Adelaide	Report
1994	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault		Report
1993	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford		Report
1992	Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda		Report
1991	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda		Report
1990	Nelson Piquet	Benetton-Ford		Report
1989	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault		Report
1988	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda		Report
1987	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari		Report
1986	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG		Report
1985	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda		Report
1984	Roberto Moreno	Ralt-Ford	Calder	Report
1983	Roberto Moreno	Ralt-Ford		Report
1982	Alain Prost	Ralt-Ford		Report
1981	Roberto Moreno	Ralt-Ford		Report
1980	Alan Jones	Williams-Cosworth		Report
1979	Johnnie Walker	Lola-Chevrolet	Wanneroo	Report
1978	Graham McRae	McRae-Chevrolet	Sandown Raceway	Report
1977	Warwick Brown	Lola-Chevrolet	Oran Park Raceway	Report
1976	John Goss	Matich-Repco-Holden	Sandown Raceway	Report
1975	Max Stewart	Lola-Chevrolet	Surfers Paradise	Report
1974	Max Stewart	Lola-Chevrolet	Oran Park Raceway	Report
1973	Graham McRae	McRae-Chevrolet	Sandown Raceway	Report
1972	Graham McRae	Leda-Chevrolet	Sandown Raceway	Report
1971	Frank Matich	Matich A50-Repco-Holden	Warwick Farm	Report
1970	Frank Matich	McLaren-Repco-Holden	Warwick Farm	Report
1969	Chris Amon	Ferrari	Lakeside	Report
1968	Jim Clark	Lotus-Cosworth	Sandown Raceway	Report
1967	Jackie Stewart	BRM	Warwick Farm	Report
1966	Graham Hill	BRM	Lakeside	Report
1965	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	Longford	Report
1964	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	Sandown Raceway	Report
1963	Jack Brabham	Brabham-Climax	Warwick Farm	Report
1962	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	Caversham	Report
1961	Lex Davison	Cooper-Climax	Mallala	Report
1960	Alec Mildren	Cooper-Maserati	Lowood	Report
1959	Stan Jones	Maserati	Longford	Report
1958	Lex Davison	Ferrari	Bathurst	Report
1957	Lex Davison Bill Patterson	Ferrari	Caversham	Report
1956	Stirling Moss	Maserati	Albert Park	Report
1955	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Bristol	Port Wakefield	Report
1954	Lex Davison	HWM-Jaguar	Southport	Report
1953	Doug Whiteford	Talbot-Lago	Albert Park	Report
1952	Doug Whiteford	Talbot-Lago	Bathurst	Report
1951	Warwick Pratley	George Reed Special-Ford	Narrogin	Report
1950	Doug Whiteford	Ford	Nuriootpa	Report
1949	John Crouch	Delahaye	Leyburn	Report
1948	Frank Pratt *	BMW	Point Cook	Report
1947	Bill Murray *	MG	Bathurst	Report
1940 -46	Not held
1939	Alan Tomlinson *	MG	Lobethal	Report
1938	Peter Whitehead *	ERA	Bathurst	Report
1937 +	Les Murphy *	MG	Victor Harbor	Report
1936	Not held
1935	Les Murphy *	MG	Phillip Island	Report
1934	Bob Lea-Wright *	Singer	Phillip Island	Report
1933	Bill Thompson *	Riley	Phillip Island	Report
1932	Bill Thompson *	Bugatti	Phillip Island	Report
1931	Carl Junker	Bugatti	Phillip Island	Report
1930	Bill Thompson	Bugatti	Phillip Island	Report
1929	Arthur Terdich	Bugatti	Phillip Island	Report
1928 #	Arthur Waite	Austin	Phillip Island	Report

• * From 1932 to 1948 the winner was determined on a handicap basis.^[25]
• + The 1937 event was staged as the "South Australian Centenary Grand Prix" on 26 December 1936.^[26]
• # The 1928 event was officially known as the "100 Miles Road Race"^[27]

Footnote[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Australian Grand Prix

• The Australian Grand Prix official website
• Australian Grand Prix Statistics
• Melbourne Formula 1 Statistics
• Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix on Kinomap Kimi Räikkönen in 2007

Coordinates: 37°50′49″S 144°58′26″E / 37.847°S 144.974°E / -37.847; 144.974

Look up Grand Prix in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Grand Prix (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɑ̃pʁi], meaning "Grand Prize"; plural Grands Prix) may refer to:

Competitions[link]

• Grand Prix (snooker), a former name of the World Open
• Six-red World Grand Prix, a former name of the Sangsom Six-red World Championship
• IAAF Grand Prix Final, an athletics competitions replaced by the IAAF World Athletics Final
• Grand Prix de Futsal, international futsal competition
• Grand Prix gliding
• Grand Prix tennis circuit
• ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating
• FIVB World Grand Prix
• World Grand Prix (darts)
• Grand Prix (Magic: The Gathering)
• Aero GP, flying competition
• IAAF Super Grand Prix, a series of athletics meetings held until 2009
• Some of the meetings in the series that succeeded the IAAF Super Grand Prix
  • Adidas Grand Prix
  • British Grand Prix (athletics)
  • London Grand Prix
  • Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix
  • Shanghai Golden Grand Prix

Racing[link]

• Grand Prix motor racing, form of racing that has evolved into Formula One racing
  • List of Formula One Grands Prix
  • Formula One
• Grand Prix motorcycle Road Racing, known commonly as MotoGP after its premier class.
  • List of Grand Prix motorcycle races
• Grand Prix Chantal Biya, a road bicycle racing event
• U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross, a cyclo-cross bicycle racing series
• Grand Prix Masters
• A1 Grand Prix
• D1 Grand Prix
• Speedway Grand Prix (motorcycle speedway)

Chess[link]

• Grand Prix Attack, a chess opening
• USCF Grand Prix
• FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2009

Equestrianism[link]

• Grand Prix (horse race), the original name of the Prix Gladiateur, a horse race in France
• Nakayama Grand Prix, original name of the Arima Kinen horse race in Japan
• Grand Prix Dressage
• Grand Prix show jumping

Combat sports[link]

• K-1 World Grand Prix, K-1's annual kickboxing World Grand Prix tournaments
• Strikeforce Grand Prix, the name for a competition run by Strikeforce
• Pride Grand Prix, the name for a series of tournaments held by Pride
• DREAM Grand Prix, the name for DREAM's various mixed martial arts Grand Prix tournaments
• IFL Grand Prix, the name for International Fight League's various mixed martial arts Grand Prix tournaments

Awards[link]

• Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival)
• Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, annual literary award for French and international crime fiction
• Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême, a comics award
• Prix Saint-Michel, another comics award
• Grand Prix at International Film Festival Bratislava

Entertainment and arts[link]

• Eurovision Song Contest (originally named Grand Prix d'Eurovision de la Chanson)
• *Melodi Grand Prix - Norwegian selection for Eurovision
  • Dansk Melodi Grand Prix - Danish selection for Eurovision
• Grand Prix (album), by Teenage Fanclub
• Grand Prix (1934 film), a British film
• Grand Prix (1966 film), a 1966 film about Formula One motor racing
• Grand Prix (2010 film), a South Korean film
• "Grand Prix" (CSI: Miami), seventh episode from second season of CSI: Miami
• Grand Prix (band), a hard rock and AOR band from the early 1980s

Video games[link]

• F-1 Sensation, the Japanese/European version of the cancelled NES game Grand Prix
• Formula One Grand Prix (video game)
  • Grand Prix 2
  • Grand Prix 3
  • Grand Prix 4
• Grand Prix (video game) by Activision
• Grand Prix Challenge, by Atari
• Grand Prix Circuit (video game), by Accolade
• Grand Prix Legends (1967 season)
• A gameplay mode in all seven Mario Kart games

Other uses[link]

• Pontiac Grand Prix, an automobile formerly manufactured by General Motors
• Grand Prix (drinks), a line of soft drinks sold in Canada by Dominion Stores in the 1960s

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Mark Webber Webber at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix Born (1976-08-27) 27 August 1976 (age 35) Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia Formula One World Championship career Nationality  Australian 2012 team Red Bull-Renault 2012 car # 2 Races 184 (182 starts) Championships 0 Wins 8 Podiums 31 Career points 742.5 Pole positions 10 Fastest laps 13 First race 2002 Australian Grand Prix First win 2009 German Grand Prix Last win 2012 Monaco Grand Prix Last race 2012 Monaco Grand Prix 2011 position 3rd (258 pts) 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1998–1999 Teams AMG-Mercedes Best finish DNF (1998) Class wins 0

Mark Alan Webber (born 27 August 1976)^[1] is an Australian Formula One driver.

After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career.^[2] Webber began a partnership with fellow Australian Paul Stoddart, at that time owner of the European Racing Formula 3000 team, which eventually took them both into Formula One when Stoddart bought the Minardi team.

Webber made his Formula One debut in 2002, scoring Minardi's first points in three years at his and Stoddart's home race. After his first season, Jaguar Racing took him on as lead driver. During two years with the generally uncompetitive team, Webber qualified on the front two rows of the grid several times and outperformed his team mates. His first F1 win was with Red Bull Racing at the 2009 German Grand Prix^[3], which followed second places at the 2009 Chinese, Turkish, and British Grands Prix. By the end of 2009, Webber had scored eight podiums, including another victory in Brazil. His eight podiums in 2009 compares to only two podiums in the first seven years of his career. He has since added ten more podiums in 2010, including victories in Spain, Monaco, Britain and Hungary. Webber finished the 2010 season in third place having led for a long period, losing out to teammate Sebastian Vettel in the final race of the season. Webber added another race victory in the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix, as he once again finished third behind champion Vettel and runner-up Jenson Button. Webber again partners Vettel again in the 2012 season, his sixth with Red Bull.

Webber was also a long-term director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, the Formula One drivers' union.

Early life and career[link]

Webber was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales,^[4] son of Alan, a local motorcycle dealer. He attended Karabar High School in Queanbeyan for his secondary education. His relationship with sport started at a young age, working as a ball boy for premiership winning rugby league team, the Canberra Raiders, during the late 1980s. However, motorsport was where his interest lay, later listing Formula One World Champion Alain Prost and Grand Prix motorcycle racer Kevin Schwantz as his childhood heroes. Starting out racing motorcycles, Webber moved to four wheels in 1991, taking up karting at the age of 14. He won the New South Wales state championship in 1993, and moved straight into the Australian Formula Ford Championship after his father bought him an ex-Craig Lowndes Van Diemen FF1600. Working as a driving instructor at Sydney's Oran Park Raceway between races, Webber finished 14th overall in his debut season. Continuing in the series in 1995, Webber scored several victories, including a win in the support race for the Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide. He finished the series in fourth place but, perhaps more importantly, teamed up with Championship coordinator Ann Neal, who secured him a seven-year sponsorship with Australian Yellow Pages,^[2] and would become his manager and accompany him on a trip to England in an attempt to start a career in Europe.

Europe[link]

Webber was given a test at Snetterton with the Van Diemen team,^[4] and subsequently earned a works drive for the team at the 1995 Formula Ford Festival, held at Brands Hatch, where he finished third.^[2] It was a result good enough to prompt the team into signing him for the 1996 championship.^[2] Before moving to Europe permanently, Webber won the Formula Holden race at the 1996 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. During the 1996 British Formula Ford Championship, Webber took four victories on his way to second place overall, finishing his strong season with a win in the Formula Ford Festival. He also won the Spa-Francorchamps race of the Formula Ford Euro Cup, taking third in the series despite competing in only two of the three rounds. His results throughout the year saw him voted as Australian motorsport's "Young Achiever" and "International Achiever" of 1996. Two days after his Festival victory Webber completed a successful test for Alan Docking Racing, and was signed by the team to graduate to Formula Three in 1997.^[4]

Formula Three and GT[link]

Without the financial backing he had enjoyed during his time in Formula Ford, Webber and his team struggled to find the money to fund their 1997 championship campaign. He was almost forced to quit halfway through the season, but was able to obtain significant financial and personal support from Australian rugby union legend David Campese, which helped him to complete the year. Mark has since stated he has been able to pay back the money Campese gave him.^[6]

Webber took victory in just his fourth ever F3 race, at Brands Hatch, leading from start to finish and setting a new lap record in the process. He took a further four podium finishes, including a second place in the support race for the 1997 British Grand Prix, and finished the season in fourth overall. Webber also took strong finishes in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort (3rd) and the Macau Grand Prix (4th), both times making his circuit debut.

During the 1997 season, Webber was approached by Mercedes-AMG to compete in a sports car race. Although he initially declined the offer he was persuaded at the end of the year when invited to participate in a test session for the team at the A1-Ring in Austria. AMG were suitably impressed with Webber, and he was signed as the official Mercedes works junior driver for the 1998 FIA GT Championship, alongside reigning champion Bernd Schneider. Travelling around the world, including the United States, Japan and Europe, the pair won five of the ten rounds on their way to second in the overall standings, beaten to the Championship by teammates Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta by just eight seconds in the final race at Laguna Seca. Webber remained with the AMG team for 1999, and was promoted to his own race car for the season. However, his sportscar career came to an early end after he flipped twice on the Mulsanne straight during practice for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans race.^[2] An aerodynamic fault on the team's Mercedes-Benz CLRs caused Webber to spectacularly become airborne during both practice and race-day warm up, with the same fate befalling teammate Peter Dumbreck five hours into the race. Both drivers escaped uninjured, but the crashes forced Mercedes to shelve their sportscar program for the year and Webber to reconsider a return to open wheel racing.^[7]

Formula One testing and signing[link]

Webber spoke to Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan, who introduced him to fellow Australian Paul Stoddart. Stoddart offered to undercut the necessary $1.1 million budget for Webber, and gave him a drive in his Eurobet Arrows Formula 3000 team for 2000. As a result, Webber also got his first taste of a Formula One car, completing a two-day test at Barcelona in December 1999 for the Arrows F1 team.

Webber was signed as test driver for the Arrows F1 team for 2000, and also gained sponsorship from Australian beer company Foster's whilst competing in Formula 3000.^[8] Webber took victory in round two of the season at Silverstone, and finished the series with two fastest laps and three podiums on his way to third overall—the highest position of any rookie that year.^[9] Contract issues meant that Webber was never able to drive the Arrows A21 car, and rejected a full contract offer for 2001 in July. However, he was offered a three day evaluation test for Benetton at the end of the year, outpacing F1 drivers Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella at Estoril.^{[citation needed]} The results were good enough to earn him the test driver role with the team for 2001, and he also agreed to take on team boss Flavio Briatore as manager in return for finance for a further F3000 season. Webber joined the championship-winning Super Nova Racing team, and despite winning at Imola, Monaco and Magny-Cours, he finished second overall to British driver Justin Wilson.^[10] Webber was replaced as test driver for Benetton for 2002 by Fernando Alonso, but Briatore managed to secure Webber a contract to race alongside Alex Yoong in the Stoddart-owned Minardi team, making him the first Australian in Formula One since David Brabham in 1994.^[4]

Formula One career[link]

Minardi (2002)[link]

Webber driving for Minardi at the 2002 French Grand Prix

Webber made his Formula One debut at his home race, the Australian Grand Prix. This was the first race of an initial three race contract and was extended until the end of the season after his first race. He qualified 18th of the 22 cars, over 4 seconds away from the pole position time, but 1.4 seconds ahead of team-mate Yoong.^[11] The start of the race featured a spectacular accident between Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, the aftermath of which forced eight cars to retire from the race. Webber, who had a problem with his launch control at the start, battled with a broken differential to fend off the experienced Mika Salo in a much faster Toyota and finish fifth.^[12] The result made Webber just the fourth Australian F1 driver to score World Championship points, and the first Minardi driver to score points since Marc Gené in 1999.^[13]

Webber was forced into retirement in the Malaysian Grand Prix, before picking up consecutive 11th-place finishes in the following two races. He, along with Yoong, was forced to pull out of the Spanish Grand Prix due to potentially dangerous wing failures during the weekend.^[14]

Webber picked up two more 11th place finishes, but was unable to score points for the remainder of the year, his next best result coming in France, where he finished 8th. In the Hungarian Grand Prix, Webber lost two kilograms in weight over the length of the race as he was forced to drive without a drink after his water bottle broke.^[15] Webber was able to outqualify Yoong (and Anthony Davidson, who replaced Yoong for the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix) in every race, and his two points in Australia were the only points that Minardi scored all season, helping them to 9th in the Constructors' Championship, ahead of Toyota and Arrows.^[16] Webber's results earned him the "Rookie of the Year" award in F1 Racing magazine's annual Man of the Year awards (receiving 53.70% of public votes),^[17] the Autosport.com "Rookie of the Year" award and "F1 Newcomer of the Year" at the annual Grand Prix Party "Bernie" Awards.^[18] In light of his season, notable Formula One journalist Peter Windsor related Webber to 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell, saying they had similar amounts of "raw talent".^[19] In November 2002 it was announced that Webber would join Jaguar Racing for the following season alongside Brazilian Williams test driver Antônio Pizzonia.^[20]

Jaguar (2003–2004)[link]

2003[link]

Webber's Jaguar career started disappointingly when he qualified in 14th place for the Australian Grand Prix before being forced to retire on lap 15 with a rear suspension failure. The following race in Malaysia was problematic for Webber; Giancarlo Fisichella began reversing towards him on the starting grid and then Webber's in-car fire extinguisher discharged into his face. He was eventually forced to retire from 8th position with an oil consumption problem.^[21]

Webber took provisional pole position in Friday qualifying of the Brazilian Grand Prix, out-qualifying local driver Rubens Barrichello by 0.138 seconds during a rain-affected session.^[22] He continued his good performance in the Saturday session taking a career-best 3rd on the grid, Jaguar Racing's best qualifying performance in their four-year Formula One history.^[23] In the race, which was hit heavily by rain, Webber was in seventh place when he attempted to cool his tyres by driving through a puddle lying off-line in the final corner.^[24] The resultant lack of grip caused Webber to crash heavily into the pit straight walls, leaving debris on the track which caused a second major crash; Fernando Alonso hitting a stray tyre. The race was subsequently red-flagged, and although Webber was originally classified in 7th, an FIA investigation found a timekeeping error which meant that Webber was placed 9th in the re-classification.^[25]

Webber's good qualifying form continued into the San Marino Grand Prix but at the start of the race he had dropped from 5th to 11th by the first corner due to a launch control failure that affected both Jaguars.^[26] He retired from the race after 54 laps with a driveshaft failure, his fourth consecutive non-finish for the year. His luck improved in the following races though, taking his first points in Spain and signing a new 2-year contract with the team reportedly worth US$6 million per season.^[27]