F1 is Down Under this week as the Australian Grand Prix returns for another year.
One of the most popular races of the season, Albert Park in Melbourne once again welcomes the F1 circus as it hosts round three of this year’s world championship.
It’s a race that has been a regular fixture on the F1 calendar since the 80s, and we’ve been racing at Albert Park since the 90s, with track alterations made for 2022 to try and bring in even faster racing.
This weekend, Red Bull will once again be the favourites for the race victory after securing two one-twos in the first two Grands Prix of the campaign, in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia respectively, and it’s down to the likes of Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Mercedes to try and reel them in.
Let’s take a look at some of the key information you need to know heading into the weekend’s action…
Australian Grand Prix session times
With F1 in Australia there is naturally a large time difference between the action taking place in Melbourne and back at home here in the UK.
The Australian GP weekend will follow the traditional format of two practice sessions on Friday, followed by one on Saturday before qualifying, before the race then takes place on Sunday.
Melbourne is 10 hours ahead of us here in the UK on British Summer Time (BST,) and the session times are as follows:
FP1: Friday 2:30 am BST
FP2: Friday 6:00 am BST
FP3: Saturday 2:30 am BST
Qualifying: Saturday 6:00 am BST
Grand Prix: Sunday 6:00 am BST
Australian Grand Prix weather forecast
It’s not always the case that the Australian Grand Prix is a warm and dry affair and there’s a chance that rain could hit over the course of the weekend.
The forecast currently has a 40% chance of rain hitting on Friday afternoon, with highs of 18C.
Saturday has highs of 16C, though there’s only a 10% chance of rain for qualifying.
Finally, Sunday’s forecast is dry and sunny with highs of 18C, and currently there’s a chance of less than 5% of rain.
How to watch the Australian Grand Prix in the UK
Sky Sports will show live and exclusive coverage of the entire race weekend from the first practice session through to the Grand Prix itself.
On Sunday, their race show kicks off at 4:30 am BST, whilst they will show race highlights later on in the day on the Sky Sports F1 channel.
For those without Sky, Channel 4 will also show highlights of the weekend.
Australian Grand Prix betting odds
It’s probably no shock to hear that the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez top the odds markets in terms of the race victory in Australia.
Verstappen is an odds-on favourite at 2/5 whilst Perez is priced at 5/1. Fernando Alonso is third favourite with the markets at 12/1.
