The FIA has shed details of track limits, DRS zones, changes to circuit and more for F1 Australian GP, as Carlos Sainz adds on his return.
The track limits stay the same as white line for Albert Park circuit as per FIA Race Directors’ note for F1 Australian GP. But there are changes for this year’s event from last year at multiple places especially at Turn 4 and Turn 10. They are:
- Removal of the raised kerb end at the exit of Turn 4 on RHS.
- Removal of the raised kerb end at the exit of Turn 10 on LHS.
- Concrete strip installed behind kerb at the exit of Turn 11.
- Barriers re-aligned in the run-off at Turn 4.
- Barriers re-aligned on LHS at Turn 10.
In terms of the first two DRS zones, the detection point is 40m after Turn 6 with the activation for the first being 130m after MS11 start and for the second being 100m after Turn 10. The third and fourth’s detection point is 90m before Turn 13.
The activation for the third is 30m after Turn 14, with the fourth’s being 30m after Turn 2. Moving onto the FIA stewards, Tim Mayer will lead the panel which consists of Matteo Perini, Johnny Herbert and Matthew Selley.
The F1 Australian GP weekend will also see a potential return of Ferrari’s Sainz after his appendix operation during Saudi Arabian GP weekend. His place was taken up by F2 racer Oliver Bearman, who is present in Australia too for his championship run.
While Sainz will start the weekend with FP1, his continuation will depend on how he feels as he knows he is not 100% as yet. In case, he is unable to continue, he will give up and Bearman will be back in the car for his second run alongside Charles Leclerc.
Talking to media in Australia, Sainz explained how it all panned out in Saudi Arabia. “At the time it was honestly very difficult to know it was appendicitis,” he said. “What I know is on Wednesday I started to feel really bad in the paddock and I got the typical symptoms of food poisoning. I don’t think I need to go into details of what that is.
“I got a very high fever also. And I spent Thursday also with those symptoms, but obviously with medication. When I was jumping in the car, I was feeling a lot better, because I was getting the medication. But then after those two sessions, I realised I cannot keep going like this for the whole weekend. So if I’m not improving, I’ll go to the hospital.
“I didn’t improve, and the morning of the Friday, which was qualifying day, I went to the hospital and I got diagnosed with appendicitis, which was not easy to diagnose, because my analysis and the test that they were doing, it was not clear. So I didn’t have the typical symptoms of appendicitis.
“But they were pretty convinced it could be, and I got the surgery done. And it was a great job from the doctors because as soon as I got it removed, I felt back to normal, back to better, obviously with surgery, and I could start focusing on recovering. Every day I’m feeling obviously a lot better.
“Now, every 24 hours that I do, I do a lot of progress. It’s true that the first week was tough, a lot of time in bed and recovering. And that’s when you see things a bit darker. But then in the second week, the recovery speeds up a lot. And I started to feel a lot better. So yeah, I’m confident that I can jump in the car tomorrow and do well.
“Obviously, I put together a very strong recovery plan since day one that I landed back home to be ready for this race. First of all it’s possible thanks to the advances that the medicine has done in the last 20-30 years. When my dad had the operation, and maybe some of you guys had it 30 years ago, they cut you open.
“Nowadays, with laparoscopy, they do three very little holes, that speed up the recovery. It’s twice as fast or three times as fast as it used to be. So thanks to that is why even the doctors after the operation, they said it’s obviously going to be tight, it’s 14 days from the operation day till I jump in the car on Friday, but possible.
“Obviously, they don’t know what F1 is and the g-forces and everything. Will I be at 100%? For sure not. It’s not a lie, 100% would mean spending 10 days training, and doing the simulator. I haven’t done that over the last 10 days, I’ve just been focused on recovering. But will I be fit to race?
“The feeling right now is yes, and I’ll see how I feel tomorrow and judge tomorrow,” summed up Sainz, who found positivity from Alexander Albon during this period. The Thai racer himself pulled out from Monza weekend a couple of seasons back after being diagnosed with appendicitis himself.
“I also found a lot of support from Alex Albon in this case, because he went through a similar process,” he said. “I think he got a few extra days than me just because he was operated on a bit earlier. And I asked him, he said yes, you will feel a bit weird at the beginning. But then you get used to it, it’s normal.
“So let’s see. The problem is I don’t know – until you put yourself in an F1 car and feel the forces. it’s impossible to know. What I know is that today I am a lot better than yesterday, and yesterday I was a lot better than two days ago. So also with that progress, I’m quite encouraged, and positive. And then see how I feel, as I said.”
Here’s full FIA Race Directors’ note: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Australian%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Race%20Director’s%20Event%20Notes.pdf
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