A virtual lap of Albert Park, Melbourne F1 circuit with Google Street View
The first corner at Albert Park, Melbourne
Albert Park circuit in Melbourne mainly uses public roads, and the whole track has been photographed by Google Street View, giving us a ground-level view of the circuit where the 2009 F1 season begins next week.
Here’s a corner-by-corner look at the Albert Park Circuit.
Turns three and four, where Martin Brundle crashed heavily in 1996
Turn five, a fast right-hander
Turns six and seven
Turn eight, a long right-hand corner
Turns nine and ten - the main road (in the foreground) bypasses this part of the circuit
Turns 11 and 12, the fastest corners on the track
Turn 13, a sharp and slow right-hander
Turn 14, a faster right-hander
Turn 15, the penultimate corner
Turn 16, with the pit lane entrance on the right
And back onto the start/finish line to begin another lap
You can navigate a lap of the Melbourne circuit yourself using Google Street View here: Albert Park, Melbourne on Google Street View.
More on Albert Park, Melbourne
- Australian Grand Prix 2009
- Albert Park circuit information, track map and more
- Albert Park, Melbourne – fans’ views
Thanks to Al for the tip!
Images (C) Google
Albert Park, Melbourne F1 circuit 2009 (click to enlarge)
D said on 21st March 2009, 22:51
As David and Nik said, the pit lane structure is permanent and has an indoor basketball court and other sports facilities. When i was at school, one of the other school’s in the competition used the paddock as their venue to play netball and table tennis, and the fields around the track to play soccer, AFL and cricket.
Pete Walker said on 22nd March 2009, 0:00
Its amazing how different it all looks, especially without all the perimeter walls, barriers and grandstands.
Also the gravel traps aren’t there. Do they have to dig any of the ground up to implement them?
Pink Peril said on 22nd March 2009, 0:21
The pit garage is indeed an indoor sporting arena when not in use at the GP. There are also heaps of other sporting facilities at the park, cricket oval, sports & aqautic centre and the lake itself is used for rowing. All of these groups get booted out unceremoniously for the race, but its really only a couple of weeks that the public can’t gain access to the park.
The swans are contained in the lake area Jenn, by the track fencing or they would indeed waddle out onto the track. If you are driving along Aughtie drive at any time, all Melburnians know to take it easy around there as the swans just cross the road wherever and whenever they feel like it ! I beleive also that wildlife carers make sure they are not unduly disturbed by the race. They don’t seem to be, at any rate.
Arun said on 22nd March 2009, 3:40
Mark Webber, are you listening? I’ve betted for the number of races this year you are going to retire due to KERS!!! LOL
Anyway, if someone lives there and is a formula 1 fanatic, maybe they can give us photo updates of how it gets transformed into the fantastic track. Maybe keith, with your fans spanning the whole world you can ask volunteers for user reporting kinda thing.
Toby Bushby said on 22nd March 2009, 4:55
I can’t help with that, but I’ll probably make a short video of race day at the track, stick it on youtube and give Keith the link. Next year, I’ll certainly get some transformation shots for everyone. Outside of turn 6, just before braking zone and at the corner, that’s where I’ll be!!!
Amy said on 22nd March 2009, 5:19
I’ve taken heaps of transformation shots this year, I need to put them up online somewhere!
Amy said on 22nd March 2009, 5:18
The pit lane itself is closed to traffic all year so I love walking along there and seeing the F1 tyre marks in the boxes. All the grooves should be gone after this weekend so it’ll be interesting to see the rubber left by the slicks.
Ethnic_Tension said on 22nd March 2009, 6:34
The only permanent structure of the circuit is the pit garage (it is used during the rest of the year as an indoor arena for indoor soccer, basketball, netball and table tennis). The stands, barriers and other general structures are stored offsite and reassembled each year. Reassembly takes about 1.5-2 months. They don’t bother digging down where the gravel traps are as the grassy areas there are already below track level. They simply lay the gravel on top. They water the grass along the sides of the track for a month prior to the event to make the track look more ‘green’ and ‘attractive’. All the fields around the track are used for various sports. You can access all areas of the track when the circuit is not set up.
When the track is not set up:
- Corner 9 is actually a car park (and like by police to book people speeding around corner 8)
- Corner 4 goes through the Melbourne Swimming and Aquatic Centre’s and South Melbourne Soccer Club’s car park (you can tell where the track runs due to the yellow lines defining its outer extremities.
- All chicanes and faux grass runoffs are permanent
- There is a gate at corner 6 preventing traffic flow from the south side of the track.
- There are entry/exits to the track at corners 5, 6, 12 and 13 (the exit at corner 12 actually has traffic lights)
- The speed limit on the north side of the track is 50km/h and 40km/h for the south side.
David said on 22nd March 2009, 9:30
http://forum.planet-f1.com/index.php?t=msg&th=72777&start=0&
Ethnic_Tension said on 22nd March 2009, 6:36
Sorry mistake in my above post.
* – All ripple strips and faux grass runoffs are permanent
Oliver said on 22nd March 2009, 6:55
Ethnic Tension, you’ve answered the questions I haven’t asked, thanks.
gabal said on 22nd March 2009, 10:35
Are you sure the grass get watered to look green? I read in a Red Bulletin last year(not most realiable source I know) that they weren’t allowed to water due to draught so they just painted it green to look green and fresh on tv…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 22nd March 2009, 10:57
Yeah I heard that too.
Keirde said on 22nd March 2009, 11:48
That could be true actually, the water shortages in Victoria are pretty severe at the moment. The grass around the rest of the park looked pretty brown and dead.
Toby Bushby said on 22nd March 2009, 22:44
They are allowed to use water from the lake to take care of the track sides. Being in (sport mad) Australia, and particularly in Melbourne, certain sporting events and venues get water exemptions from the government. In fact, I think there might be a safety issue to do with grass track-sides in F1 that means they must be watered a certain amount. Something to do with dust?
Keirde said on 22nd March 2009, 11:49
Oh, and the lake is absolutely massive! Took us a good hour of brisk walking to get round most of it.
I can’t wait to see the TV coverage of the race now that I’ve been there and seen it :)
Ethnic_Tension said on 22nd March 2009, 12:19
The grass is watered (seen it myself many times). They don’t water all the grass, just the parts between the track and walls. I believe they’re using trucked in recycled.
AJ Ball said on 22nd March 2009, 12:20
Perhaps we could have a street view thread?
There’s a funny surprise if you find the street view pictures of Laguna Seca.
ajokay said on 22nd March 2009, 16:17
There is, but only on the roads around Laguna Seca, not the track itself. You can see most of the track though.
take a looksie:
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=36.582969,-121.7589&spn=0,359.986053&t=k&z=17&layer=c&cbll=36.582879,-121.758819&panoid=iOGTkiMRQcdUiEwgEkOoqw&cbp=12,94.44945787275483,,0,5.346153846153845
ajokay said on 22nd March 2009, 16:20
Actually, here’s a better starting point. I can’s see any funny surprises though
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&t=k&layer=c&cbll=36.585792,-121.757845&panoid=JvIPlqFQJC-4iPLL0_yfyw&cbp=12,75.27891125642523,,0,6.938461538461547&ll=36.585829,-121.757752&spn=0,359.986053&z=17
AJ Ball said on 22nd March 2009, 12:40
There’s some nice pics of Montjuic Park but the Google camera car stopped one roundabout short of driving round Rouen.
They didn’t know what they missed.
Chaz said on 22nd March 2009, 17:26
Great post…