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Albert Park came under fire in the wake of the Australian Grand Prix after drivers expressed safety concerns following three crashes at Turn 6.
Alex Albon damaged his Williams FW46 chassis beyond on-site repair in opening practice on Friday while George Russell crashed out on the penultimate lap of the race, rebounding back onto the track after hitting the tyre battier.
In Formula 2, Dennis Hauger also crashed at the corner fast right-hander.
Those three incidents are in addition to Albon’s 2023 crash, which shared similarities with Russell’s crash this year.
“The exit kerb and the way that it’s angled to the wall, it tends to force drivers back onto the racing line,” noted Alex Albon, who crashed at Turn 6 in both 2023 and 2024.
“It was brought up, but obviously maybe it’s down to the park or whatever. It wasn’t changed.
“And there’s also the kerb. There’s kind of a double-stepped kerb on the exit, and especially as we have these low cars now, everything we touch, we can use the first bit of kerb, but if you go too far across and you hit the second kind of ramp section, it forces the car into the air, so there’s two things that could be done better.”
Albert Park was remodelled in 2021 ahead of F1’s return after COVID, with Turn 6 among the areas modified.
That opened up the corner, making it significantly faster.
As part of the 2021 remodel, there were changes at Turn 1, the chicane on Lakeside drive was removed, Turn 13 (now Turn 11) was tightened to create an overtaking opportunity, and the penultimate corner opened up slightly.
Those modifications are in keeping with the current trend that has seen circuits become faster and more flowing, a philosophy that can be seen in most recent additions to the F1 calendar.
They also see the circuit better play to the strengths of the current generation of cars, which work better at higher speeds owing to their reliance on ground effect.
The drawback is that, as they run much closer to the ground, they are more susceptible to surface aberrations and kerbing.
“There’s a couple of things that we could improve there a bit,” said Oscar Piastri.
“We’ve seen quite a few accidents where cars have kind of bounced back onto the track, which is something that we’ve spoken about and I think should be addressed.
“Maybe just the, the angle of the wall or potentially even the speed of the corner; it’s obviously quite a quick corner now.
“It is something that was spoken about with the FIA and we’ll see what comes.
“But I think there’s probably been now a few too many crashes with cars ending up in the middle of the track to not do something about it.”
FIA sources have confirmed to Speedcafe that work is already underway to assess exactly what change will be made, with the likely outcome a tightening of the apex at Turn 6.
After the 2021 modifications, the corner is now negotiated in sixth gear with little more than a lift of the throttle.
The apex point was pushed back by 7.5 metres with the gravel trap expanded as much as possible to accommodate, within the existing limitations – namely trees behind the current fence line.
“The corner’s amazing, probably one of the best corners on that circuit, so I wouldn’t want to see that corner change,” George Russell said.
“But it is true, if you hit that wall, you just bounce back into the track.
“It’s not just that corner, I think all circuits that have the barriers in certain positions, if it’s going to propel you back onto the circuit, that’s obviously not good.
“And we don’t want to have big run-offs, we don’t want to have tarmac run-offs.
“I think everything is correct, just the position of that wall, even if it’s closer to the track but in line with the circuit, at least you wouldn’t bounce off into the racing line.”
Carlos Sainz, who won this year’s Australian Grand Prix, added: “I think that corner needs to be reviewed, which is already something I said in the last driver’s briefing,” the Spaniard said.
“It’s not the first time that after a collision, the car comes back into the track.
“It’s a corner that we’re doing 250km/h and it’s blind.
“I just don’t like the last few incidents that we’ve seen in this corner, also in other categories. It just doesn’t give me a very good feeling.
“It’s a great corner, don’t get me wrong. I love driving in a qualifying lap. It’s just… When it comes to racing, there’s been just too many examples of a car coming back onto a track and being very narrow there.
“I just think it’s a corner that needs to be a bit reviewed.”
By tightening the apex, the FIA hopes to reduce the entry speed which will have an impact on corner exit and run-off requirements.
However, changes there haven’t been ruled out either, which could see the gravel trap fence line pushed back or even realigned, though the FIA is mindful of the impact that has on the park and processes that may have to be navigated to make that happen.
The removal of trees is not thought to be an impediment if it makes the venue safer, but one that would need further investigation.
There could also be changes to the exit kerb to address concerns the angle of it is contributing to the crashes that have been seen.
While keen to improve safety at that location, the FIA is also mindful not to overreact and introduce unexpected consequences.
Whatever the final solution, there will be changes at Turn 6, and the most probable outcome is that the corner will be tightened ahead of F1’s return in early March, 2025.
