One of the most regular fixtures in the F1 Racing circuit, The Grand Prix is the second oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia, after the Alpine rally first held in 1921, having been contested 83 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. It is currently sponsored with naming rights by Rolex. The deal to host Formula 1 in Melbourne was done in 1993, with the decision taken to create a circuit using a mixture of the existing roads around the city’s Albert Park – mainly Aughtie Drive and Lakeside Drive.
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Some statistics from the Aussie GP:
Lap distance: 5.303 km.
Total distance: 307.574 km (58 laps)
2019 pole: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes one minute 20.486 seconds.
2019 winner: Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Mercedes
Race lap record: Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari one minute 24.125 seconds (2004)
No Australian has ever won a home grand Prix.
There have been 13 Australian F1 drivers since 1950 and two world champions - Jack Brabham and Alan Jones.
Melbourne has been the season-opener 22 times. This year's race will be the 25th at Albert Park.
The winner in Melbourne has gone on to be world champion 13 out of 24 times to date.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel has won in Melbourne three times in total. Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen twice. Schumacher holds the record of four.
Hamilton has been on pole in Melbourne for the past six seasons and eight times in total (2008, 2012, 2014 to 2019), a record for the race.
A ninth Australian pole for Hamilton would be a record for poles at the same Grand Prix.
The lowest starter to win in Australia was Britain's Eddie Irvine from 11th in 1999 for Ferrari.
Current Race status:
The Australian GP has been canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Lewis Hamilton has recently expressed how “surreal” the decision was when the racers got to know about it.
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