Five Things to Know About the 2025 Australian GP

Formula 1 is ready for a new season, and it's back to Australia to host Round 1 again.

Alex and Carlos are set to put what they learned from three days of pre-season testing into action, but are you prepared?

We've got five things about the Australian GP that you might not know to get you ready to race Down Under.

After a few years off, Australia has reclaimed its place as the season-opening round, and it'll host the first Grand Prix for several rookie drivers.

Those newbies will join Alex and Carlos, who also enjoyed their first competitive F1 weekend around Albert Park, with both our duo immediately showing what they could do.

Carlos, who debuted in 2015, outqualified Toro Rosso teammate Max Verstappen with a Q3 appearance and picked up points with a P9 finish.

While Alex didn't secure points in 2019, he also outshone his Toro Rosso teammate on Saturday by going faster than the more experienced Pierre Gasly to only miss out on Q3 by a tenth.

Melbourne's Albert Park Circuit has become an F1 staple in the calendar, but the capital of Victoria didn't always host the Australian Grand Prix.

Adelaide had the naming rights to the Aussie GP when F1 first visited the country as part of the World Championship in 1985.

Acting as the season finale, the demanding Adelaide streets had Keke Rosberg claim victory for Williams in his final race for the team.

The South Australian city continued hosting until 1995, when Damon Hill's Williams FW17 lapped every other car twice.

Damon did the double one season later at Melbourne's 1996 debut, this time winning in the FW18 to lead a Williams 1-2 with Jacques Villeneuve crossing the line P2.

While racing around Albert Park isn't the same as Monaco or Singapore's tight twists and turns, the circuit does utilise public roads to make it a street circuit.

Despite this, the changes to Melbourne's layout ahead of 2023's Grand Prix transformed the track into one of F1's fastest.

The drivers now spend over 70% of the 80-second lap at full throttle, one of the highest pedal-to-the-metal percentages of the season.

As such, last year's race saw Carlos win in just 1 hour and 20 minutes, only six minutes shy of the Italian GP's duration.

Of course, red flags can slow things down, and Melbourne also hosted 2023's record-breaking race that saw three red flag periods in a long day at the office for the drivers.

Every second will count in Australia after Bahrain's pre-season test allowed just three days for the team to get used to the FW47.

Carbono shared driving duties in the Middle East, but they'll each have a car for Melbourne, allowing each pilot to practise with their 2025 machine.

Unlike the previous four seasons, the opening round is not at the same venue as winter testing, with Barcelona's 2020 hosting being the last time there was a circuit change between the test and the curtain-raising race.

Lessons learned from the Sakhir Circuit won't necessarily carry over as directly as the teams have gotten used to — there are no deserts or evening sessions this weekend!

While we've explained that Adelaide and Melbourne have hosted F1 championship races since the 80s and 90s, the Australian Grand Prix has existed for far longer.

The first Australian GP happened nearly a century ago on Phillip Island, just south of Melbourne, in 1928 on a four-corner 6.5 km track of pubic dirt roads.

Races all across Australia eventually followed from 1937 onwards, including at Bathurst's legendary Mount Panorama Circuit, with some 23 venues hosting the Grand Prix.

F1 royalty contested and won the event even though the race didn't form part of the F1 World Championship until 1985.

Non-championship victors include Stirling Moss, Bruce McLaren, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Alain Prost, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, and, in 1980, Williams' newly-crowned World Champion Alan Jones.