“A new combination kerb has been installed on the apex of turn 9. The kerbs and artificial grass have been extended downstream on the exit of turns 2 and 12,” said the FIA press release on the modifications of the Albert Park circuit.
Prior to the Australian Grand Prix, the FIA-scheduled press conference Down Under took place during the course of Thursday, with race drivers Bruno Senna, Vitaly Petrov, Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli sharing their thoughts on the action to happen during the upcoming weekend.
Obviously, most of the questions were addressed to local hero Mark Webber, who will be targeting his first Formula One win on home soil in his entire career. While admitting he is now in a far better position as compared to last year – when he was coming back from his cycling-related injury – the 33-year old driver said he looks forward to racing in front of a home crowd.
“I am very lucky to have a home grand prix. Not every driver on the grid has a home race. I have been coming here for a long time and the car is performing very well and we have the best opportunity to have a crack at it but you need everything perfect, everything needs to be executed right,” said Webber.
Additionally, both Webber and Trulli insisted that the late scheduling of this year's race will again raise some safety issues, all of them linked with twilight racing.
“We raised our concerns last year but apparently nothing has changed. There is very little you can do on the safety side on the track, apart from starting the race an hour earlier which probably won't hurt anyone. We have given our opinion and that's it,” said Trulli.
“Jarno has hit it on the head. If you picked the best time to have a high speed sporting motor race event, obviously it's not when the sun is at eye level with us. Anyway, that's how it is for lots of different commercial reasons,” added Webber.
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