The slightly odd sound of the new engines flying around the Albert Park circuit provided the background noise to my first cup of coffee this morning, and a few teams used it to try out race distance as reliability will be severely tested on Sunday.
The fine, dry and warm conditions enjoyed today will slowly turn for the worse tomorrow as cloud rolls in on an, at times, blustery northwesterly wind, initially there may be some light, patchy rain around for the final practice sessions, but as the afternoon goes on it could well become stormy, with heavy showers and thunder expected over the Melbourne area which will make for some potentially very challenging conditions. As qualifying for the Australian GP takes place at 5pm local time to allow European TV audiences to have a chance of blearily watching things unfold from 6am GMT, it doesn't allow much time for any possible weather delays. With storms and heavy showers expected to be in the area until the early hours of Sunday morning, there could be some all or nothing early laps thrown in if the heavier rain is slow to arrive.
Once the storms clear, it'll be much fresher, with temperatures some 6 or 7c cooler than the forecast highs of 27c on Saturday, but it should be dry, bar a very slight risk of light showers. The winds will be lighter too, but still noticeable . So come race time, it could well feel like a completely different circuit with lower track temperatures and the heavy rain will wash away some of the rubber laid down previously, making grip levels unpredictable. All in all it's not the 'easy' start the teams will have wanted to get the new era of F1 underway.
As always, you can keep track of the latest forecast for
Albert Park here.
