The Lakeside Street Circuit is said to be 'realigned' for 2021 F1 racing. The bitumen which presents tyre wear to the F1 drivers is also to be modified for improving the overall race performance and safety.
According to few F1 officials, the upgrade should cost somewhere around $10 million to $15 million. The modifications are due to be ready for the rescheduled AGP from somewhere around November 18-21, although they’re mainly aimed at the new generation ‘ground effect’ of the F1 cars to be used next year.
Officials have confirmed that the resurfacing and alterations work to the corner will begin soon probably by May. This is said to increase the tyre wear of F1 cars which will present teams with new challenges, However, the tyre wear would not drastic and affect the race as witnessed in 2020.
The target set for the completion of work is by the end of May. The pitlane has also been modified so as to raise the F1 pit lane speed from 60 km/h to 80 km/h, which will reduce the time penalty of tyre stops.
Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Andrew Westacott confirmed the plans to resurface the 5.3 km Albert Park course and modify the layout in time for the AGP in November.
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“It hasn’t been needed to be done until now because it was so well put down in the first place,” Westacott said.
“We were always going to try to do it in 2021, but it would’ve been after the (originally scheduled) 2021 March event. So we’re actively looking now at what we can do to achieve the resurfacing works prior to this November 21.
“That would mean we’d need to get those works completed by May. The engineers are looking at what’s possible to achieve in that timeframe.”
He also stated that the new track surface would be more abrasive which will result in increased tyre wear. This is said to help teams to conduct different tyre-strategies and make the race interesting.
“We’re starting to have a good look at the asphalt mix as well because Melbourne is not necessarily high-degradation from a tyre wear point of view,” Westacott said.
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“The feedback we’ve had from F1 is that we’re sort of mid-way. We’re not the most aggressive, we’re not the least aggressive – we just don’t do much to tyres.
“By having a slightly higher abrasiveness of the asphalt mix, we’ll be able to get more strategies because you’re going to get higher tyre deg and coupled with the other changes, you get something that’s a little more interesting to the cars.”
