Daniel Ricciardo’s role in historic Australian Grand Prix re-design revealed

Daniel Ricciardo has been revealed as one of the key voices in cooking up the historic changes to the Australian Grand Prix track.

The Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix track is undergoing its first major track re-design since the event was moved from Adelaide 25 years ago.

The new-look Albert Park circuit has been unveiled this week after it was revealed last year that the Australian Grand Prix Corporation was planning to update the track to encourage more overtaking opportunities.

Aussie driver Daniel Ricciardo was one of the key voices in the new-look track that features three major areas of construction designed to allow drivers to carry more speed exiting turns and more scope for completing passes at the end of a longer straight.

Ricciardo said this week he was happy to see the changes, but admitted he didn’t get everything he wanted when consulted alongside several other drivers during the re-design project.

“I see all of these changes as beneficial for Sunday and we can have some fun on the brakes,’’ Ricciardo said, according to the official Formula 1 website.

F1 to make Albert Park changes

“It’ll make the racing closer, I’m pretty confident of that.

“A bunch of us drivers were consulted on the changes and I was happy about that. We were allowed to give our thoughts and input.

“Not all drivers will be aligned of course, but one thing we can agree on is we want to make Sundays, race day, better.

Daniel Ricciardo in Bahrain.

“I had that in mind when I had my input. Widening some of the apexes, creating more of a straight in some places to allow for an opportunity for more slipstreaming… that was the priority, and I’m very confident it’s going to be good.”

The biggest change is the removal of the chicane at Turn 9 in a move that creates a longer swooping back straight. It gives drives a better chance of overtaking on the longer straight and will cut lap times by more than five seconds.

The 2021 Australian Grand Prix from November 19-21 is now the third last race of the year after it was moved from its traditional March date as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ricciardo will be racing in McLaren colours for the first time in Australia after his move from Renault at the end of the 2020 season.