A Who Cares 2019 Australian Grand Prix Preview

The first race of the 2019 Formula 1 season is almost here, and given our love for F1, it would be lazy of us if we didn’t provide a 2019 Australian Grand Prix Preview.

But our 2019 Australian Grand Prix Preview isn’t just any old look ahead to a Grand Prix, we attempt to come up with a Care Factor rating for the race itself, use a variety of stats to determine a winner and to barely entertain the readers, and throw in some of our bold claims for the race ahead.

Sounds barely interesting? Well you’ve come to the right place for a 2019 Australian Grand Prix Preview.

THE 2019 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX CARE FACTOR

Should you care about the Australian Grand Prix? Here is our break down of why you should / shouldn’t.

We have five categories rate out of ten, and the final score will determine the care factor for this race.

TRACK  – 7/10

For a street track Albert Park is pretty good. Especially the sweeping back straight and sweepers. The first corner is dangerous enough for first lap crashes, and the third corner is a good overtaking spot for successful and unsuccessful manoeuvres.

HISTORY – 8/10

The Australian Grand Prix goes back to 1985 for Formula 1, to the Adelaide street track, which still has fond memories for those fans who grew up with Senna, Prost, Mansell and Pierluigi Martini. It goes even further back for non World Championship races, which were won by some of the greats of past eras. The Melbourne race is into its 24th year, so a decent innings by itself.

RACING POTENTIAL – 7/10

To be honest the Albert Park track is pretty crap for overtaking and racing, but being the first race of the season, drivers are rusty and mistakes are more prevalent than later races. So the action is enhanced being the first race of the season rather than the track.

IMPORTANCE – 10/10

Only a title deciding final race is more important than the first grand prix of the year. Where the gaps between expectations and reality is either refreshingly surprising or devastatingly worse than first thought.

BUZZ – 10/10

Like the importance, there’s no more hype tan the first race of the year, with the possible exception of Monaco.

TOTAL CARE FACTOR = 42/50

0-10 – Check the result, move on with life.
10-20 – Watch it live as Background viewing, or a Monday night delayed watch.
21-30 – Watch it live, as it will probably be too dull once you know the result.
31-40 – Record, Watch it Live, Watch the replay.
41-50-Clear the schedule, unplug the phones, a great GP Awaits.

BARELY INTERESTING AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX STATS

Nothing says a who cares 2019 Australian Grand Prix preview than a pile of barely interesting stats on the drivers previous Australian Grand Prix experience.

Does it make any difference, probably not.

Was it a bit of a waste of time compiling these for the handful of people who will read it. Never.

QUALIFYING FORM OVER THE YEARS

RACE STATS

WHO WILL WIN THE 2019 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX?

Many professional pundits, ex drivers, keyboard warriors, and F1 fans everywhere will try and pick the winner of the 2019 Australian Grand Prix. And we are no different. Just worse. So here’s our attempt/s to pick a winner.

Testing pointed to a Ferrari advantage, but who knows how much Mercedes have caught up in the meantime, and how much sand was placed in the various bags of Red Bull-Honda.

behind them is a gaggle of midfield cars going for the “Plate Final” of 7th at best.

Then Williams.

Much like the former world beaters, we’ll probably embarrass ourselves with our tipping.

OUR SELECTIONS

Pole: Sebastian Vettel
Winner: Charles Leclerc
Podium: Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel
Best of the Rest: Daniel Ricciardo

THE JEFF SUPER COMPUTER 3000 SELECTIONS

We put a bunch of stats into our Jeff Super Computer 3000, and it has spit out the top ten for the Australian Grand Prix. The JSC3000 will expand as the season plays out. so stay tuned for a surefire winner or two throughout the season.

SOME ALTERNATIVE 2019 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX BOLD PREDICTIONS

• Ferrari will send a shiver down the spines of their opponents with blistering speed on Saturday, but it may not be Vettel winning on Sunday.
• Max Verstappen will be involved in some kind of incident.
• Daniel Ricciardo will find his way to the top five.
• The battle for fastest lap will spice up the last five laps, which is usually very dull. At the front.
• At least two cars won’t see the fourth corner of the F1 season.
• At least two drivers will embarrass themselves with over ambitious overtaking moves  at turn three.
• Kevin Magnussen will piss someone off.

TIME FILLER/KILLER No1  – AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2 MINUTE QUIZ

Why not kill some time before the big race with a bit of quick trivia….

TIME FILLER/KILLER No 2 – AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX YOUTUBE MOMENTS

Here’s some of the more exciting Australian Grand Prix moments to get you in the mood.

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HISTORY BIT – 3 GREAT AUSRTRAIAN GRAND PRIX

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