Is Melbourne The Right Choice For Season Opener?

Alexandre · Mar 15, 2019

I think should be in a track with a longer straight. At the beginning of the season, all have more or less the same level of evolution from last year, and it would make a rack more interesting.

Nick Hill · Mar 15, 2019

I don't think it's a very good track, but I love the race. Beautiful late summer weather and a hoard of really enthusiastic Aussies packing the stands makes for an awesome visual effect. It all screams "F1 is back!!!" for me.

BP · Mar 16, 2019

Not a thing is wrong with Melbourne...love that track in sims as it seems to have nice transitions..and it has plenty of straights and high speed corners to let the cars go flat out, but again maybe it's because when I first became aware of F1 it was already in Melbourne (and yes, Adelaide is great too).

shimon.ifraimov said:
track is great but not for the first race of the season where you want all the people from around the world to be able to watch it live.

Another moot point; It's gonna be late night viewing for somebody somewhere, regardless. The F1 fans in Australia and Asia for example have the same issue with watching the US, Canadian, Mexican and Brazilian GPs.

Benutzername · Mar 16, 2019

MattyH1812 said:
The question you should be asking is "Is Abu Dhabi the right choice for Season Closer", and the answer is emphatically no

Thats not the reply i expected but it is way better than what i thought. Totally agree on that one

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Interlagos had some pretty nice season closers

Sean · Mar 16, 2019

I love Melbourne, it's a great track to be at too.

smasha · Mar 16, 2019

Perfect weather here,10k more people attended yesterday than last year, around 86k.

Yellow and black!

billymitchell · Mar 16, 2019

It’s a great season opener because of the fans, atmosphere, and weather.

Compared to MotoGP season opener that averages 15,000 spectators...

Nelson Ullinskey · Mar 16, 2019

Have Brazil as the opener and Japan as the closer.

Typ190 · Mar 16, 2019

i say no. the track is very specific and not very representative for the rest of the season. most importantly the track doesnt give us good racing and imo you would want to start the season with a track where you can actually overtake, like the 2nd race bahrain, for newcomer fans to see that the races can actually be exciting. f1 of course has the problem that half the races are so boring, theyll put you to sleep, so starting off with australia imo isnt the greatest idea.
also its a terrible starting time for european people which is the majority of f1s fanbase

Jolero02 · Mar 16, 2019

At heart I would say yes but the nature of the track that limits overtaking often means that the ability of the cars to race in that season is looked on based on Australia before there is some knee-jerk reaction regulation change for next season/ later in the season. I would say yes buuuut the two opening races of the season should be run as a double header on a different track to get a better idea of the racing. Anyway it’s not exclusive to Australia, in 2010 when Bahrain opened the season( albeit with a terrible endurance layout) the race was rubbish and everyone went crazy about how the new regulations might be a failure. Next race was in Australia and happened to be a great race....

Antony Snook · Mar 16, 2019

Don't like it its one of the 2nd generation street circuits that has run off in some areas unlike the older ones that box the driver in. So when a problem arises you have a way to escape and there is no need to pull out pace car, as the track is not affected. I still prefer the real tracks of old but they are out of money and it costs to much to get them to modern standards. The championship is no longer about going to the best tracks in the world but the richest destinations that can pay the bill. Like Monaco. Every time you go to a race you pay a premium for the next year tell you go broke. Its a poker game just go all in tell you fold.
The bottom line street circuits are cheaper and easier to run and require no year round maintenance. Just haul all the S##T in assemble it and pull it down. The racing is lower quality and full of pace car and everyone moans about what a poor show it was.

You might as well have a sim racing league and put drivers on rigs to race each other on and have fans design the tracks with regulations like the track must have X passing opportunity's and a straight away of X Miles max.