In the interest of protecting the Formula One drivers, Albert Park will be making some safety revisions to the circuit in the months leading up to the Australian Grand Prix. The changes will compensate for the faster cars that we will see in 2017.
Albert Park has a very high safety record. In order to ensure that things stay that way, a number of safety changes have been planned for the circuit ahead of the opening race in March. The revisions include the use of Tecpro high-speed barriers in turn 12, a high density foam reinforced by two metal sheets. The use of these new barriers will be limited to just 80 meters, due to the high cost of the technology. These barriers will be replacing three rows of tyres in turn 12 to adjust of the predicted higher corner exit speeds.
In addition to the new barriers, the tyre barrier at turn 1 will be doubled. The same goes for turn 6, which is also a hard braking corner. The tyres at the run-off area of turn 14 will also be doubled and the tyres will contain tube inserts to absorb more impacts.
All of these precautions have been planned using simulation data given to the Australian Grand Prix Corporation from the FIA. The data shows that cornering speeds will be significantly faster, as a result of the wider tyres and the higher downforce on the 2017 cars.
