Officials in Melbourne have confirmed modification to Turn 6, which became a hot topic following last year’s event after George Russell suffered a terrifying crash late in the race.
It followed a heavy shunt for Alex Albon earlier in the weekend that wrote off his Williams chassis and left the squad with just one car for the remainder of the event.
Albon had crashed at the same corner in 2023 with his car rebounding onto the racing surface to trigger a red flag during the grand prix.
The right-hander has quickly become a favourite for drivers, though that did not stop them voicing concerns.
“It’s a really, really fun corner. In quali, it’s downshift to sixth and pretty much get back to full throttle, so it’s a ballsy corner,” Daniel Ricciardo said of Turn 6.
“The only thing I don’t like about it is, as we’ve seen, when you crash, you come back onto the track. So yes, I don’t like that scenario.
“From a pure driving experience, it’s an amazing corner, so I don’t want that to change.”
Following the incidents last year, FIA race director Niels Wittich flagged the corner in a post-event report as one that needed attention.
“Turn 6 was one of the main track realignment changes we actually made to speed up that corner at the start of the DRS zone along the back straight,” Tom Mottram, chief events officer for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, told Speedcafe.
“What we’ve done, and where we’ve landed with the FIA is there’s no changes to drivers right at all on Turn 6; it’s really all happening on drivers’ left.”
Although changes to the apex radius were initially investigated, a more subtle solution has been found.
For 2025, the exit kerbing has been modified, artificial turf behind the kerbing itself removed, and barriers moved and realigned. The line of TecPro barriers has also been extended.
“There’s about a 90-metre kerb along there,” Mottram said of the exit of Turn 6, which feeds into the entry of Turn 7.
“What it’s been in the past is about 50-odd metres of that was a bevel kerb, which is more on the entry to [Turn] 7.
“What we’ve done now is actually just agree with the FIA that we change that whole kerb to a negative kerb the whole way, so you’re not having that kind of accelerating off that kerb once you hit the bevel.
“We added in half a metre of concrete verge before the gravel trap, again, just to allow a little bit of leeway there before getting into the gravel trap.
“And we’ve also moved back the barrier line there, the tyre bundles, the TecPro barriers, by two metres and actually added in more TecPro barriers at the end of that run and smoothened the taper to try and avoid that kind of bounce back into the track incidents that we’ve seen.”
Track limits will not be an issue, with the margin from the edge of the racing surface to the gravel only 1.5 metres, even allowing for the tarmac strip behind the kerb.
The solution is designed to marginally slow drivers at the fast right-hander, and thereby improve safety, without unduly changing the character of the circuit.
With cornering speeds expected to slow with the introduction of new regulations in 2026, officials in Melbourne were mindful of going too far with changes this year.
“We could slow it down a lot by completely changing that apex, but you lose the characteristics of that turn,” Mottram agreed.
“It’s certainly a consideration where you don’t want to make a whole bunch of changes for one additional year, but safety is always paramount, that will always take first and foremost and then take each change year by year.”
This year’s Australian Grand Prix is the opening race of the season and will take place on March 13-16.
Formula 1 is again supported by Formula 2 and Formula 3, while Supercars headlines the local undercard together with Porsche Carrera Cup Australia.
Local supports will this year be homed on the outside of the final corner, having sat behind the second pit lane (which is occupied by F2 and F3) in 2024.
The move has been made to improve paddock access to fans, which was compromised by the choice of location last year.
