All set for the season-opener in Melbourne
Preview - Round 1 - Albert Park, Melbourne
After a long winter, the much-anticipated 2025 Formula 2 season is upon us, and we can’t wait to get started. This promises to be one of the most exciting campaigns to date thanks to a stellar line-up of drivers, at Hitech and across the grid.
Three days of pre-season testing two weeks ago provided a welcome opportunity for Hitech’s new F2 driver line-up Luke Browning and Dino Beganovic to put the past two months in the sim and gym to work, to confirm the setup direction for Melbourne, and beyond.
Albert Park has become a firm Hitech favourite since joining the calendar in 2023. That year, the team scored three podiums across the F2 and F3 championships. The track was also the scene of Dino’s maiden F3 victory, and the first of two wins and a string of podiums and points finishes that defined his 2024 season.
Luke Browning, racing for Hitech, also finished in the points at Melbourne last year, at the start of what would develop into a fiercely competitive fight for the driver’s title in which Luke was centre stage throughout the whole season.
Melbourne’s temperate autumnal climate has mostly been a ray of sunshine at the end of a bleak winter with no racing action – and that looks set to be the case as we head into the early part of the weekend. However, Sunday could be an entirely different prospect. The forecast is for rain, and plenty of it. The Feature Race could be the first wet race F2 has had in Australia, and this will put the drivers’ skill and bravery to the test around this tight and fast street circuit.
The forecast obviously has implications for strategy also. The correct tyre choice at the right time is always critical to the race outcome, but the timing of a sudden change in conditions will call for swift decisions from the pit wall and the cockpit.
Clive Hatton, Hitech's F2 Team Manager:
“We have an exciting weekend coming up in F2! As the season opener, it will provide us with our first look at how Dino and Luke perform in our F2 car on a race weekend and where we stand as a team after the winter break and testing.”
The 16-turn 5.2km circuit is comprised of public roads in leafy Albert Park, set against the backdrop of Melbourne’s distinctive city skyline. This track is tricky, its abundance of gravel traps and the proximity of its walls leaving little margin for error. Four DRS zones – the most of any circuit on the F2 calendar – provide good overtaking opportunities, but the high-speed sections give way to some heavy braking events, so there is a good variety of corners across the lap. Track evolution tends to be high, as is the likelihood of a Safety Car appearance, the combination of which dials up the unpredictability of the race outcome.
Event Schedule
Friday
Free Practice
10:00
45 minutes
Saturday
Qualifying
17:30
30 minutes
Sprint Race
14:15
23 laps
Sunday
Feature Race
11:30
33 laps