Racing in Melbourne: Overtaking, tyre saving and why timing is everything

While teams and drivers have a wealth of data to draw upon in their preparations for most race weekends, the grid has just one round of racing to look at for Melbourne.2023 was the first year FIA Formula 3 went racing Down Under, but even with just one Round and two races to look back through, lessons can still be taken and used for 2024 planning.QUALIFYING CONUNDRUMWhile every driver will be aiming for pole position and the two points that comes along with that as usual, it isn’t the pivotal moment of the weekend despite Albert Park being a street circuit. Pole has a 50% conversion rate after Zak O’Sullivan claimed the Sprint Race victory in 2023 having started Saturday’s race from P8 on the grid.One might expect overtaking opportunities to be at a premium, though thanks to four DRS zones around the track, the most of any venue on the F3 calendar, drivers have plenty of places to make their moves.But, if a driver is going to secure pole, it isn’t just the one ideal lap they have to manage.With the numerous gravel traps and barriers looming across the lap, there is plenty of potential for trouble to arise from a crash in Qualifying and the subsequent Red Flags that will follow.READ MORE: Preparing for Melbourne: How the rookies are getting ready to go racing Down UnderThe first ever Qualifying session was halted within the opening 10 minutes for a crash after Josep María Martí found the barriers at Turn 10, leaving those that had started a hot lap to abort their attempt, therefore losing the best of their tyres to a lap that never was.But even when the track is clear, timing is still everything, as Trident and Gabriel Bortoleto showed on F3’s one and only visit so far.The 2023 Drivers’ Champion found a second in laptime from his first and eventual pole time, and after a second Red Flag, which came inside the final five minutes of Qualifying, he had enough left in his tyres to find improvement despite his Pirelli rubber not being brand-new.A purple sector one gave way to a failure to improve in the middle part of the lap, though he saved enough tyre to set a personal best in the final one to cap off his pole position effort.So, go early and you may avoid a potential Red Flag stoppage and record a strong time on fresher tyres. But you’ll lose the best of the track to those that risk running later at the very tail end of the session, who may well have enough in hand to beat the earlier times even if they’re running scrubbed tyres.TYRES AND TACTICSBortoleto kept Saucy at bay throughout the 2023 Feature with clever tactics and using the tyres well“At the beginning of the race, I was struggling a bit with the front tyres. Then I managed, with the team helping me as well, to make it work, but for sure it was very on the edge,” 2023 Feature winner Bortoleto surmised after the race.The then-Trident driver was under race-long pressure from ART Grands Prix Grégoire Saucy, though maintained the lead throughout. It was his tyre preservation that was the key to his victory, as while he admitted after that Saucy may well have been the faster driver on the day, his tactical drive to the top step centred around pulling a gap in critical areas of the track.Saucy said afterwards: “With Gabriel, I was always in his DRS, but I never overtook him, I had no opportunities to overtake. He was quite fast on the straight, and I was a bit faster on the corner, but it was really difficult.”With four DRS zones to contend with, Bortoleto was able to generate great drive out of the preceding corner to keep Saucy art arm’s length.Albert Park’s tight layout also means the likelihood of Safety Cars is high, with multiple interventions across both of the races last year. Managing each race restart also brings its own challenges of keeping those behind at bay. Both of Bortoleto’s restarts in the Feature Race came prior to the final corner in order to establish a big enough gap to avoid having to defend at Turn 1. OVERTAKING OPPORTUNITIESFour DRS zones make for decent overtaking opportunities around the lapAs previously mentioned, there are four DRS zones around the Albert Park circuit, allowing the pursuing driver plenty of opportunity to get the better of the one ahead.The DRS zone along the start/finish straight is a great chance but requires a smooth run through Turn 14, which is easier said than done.Over push and you can quickly find the barriers on the left-hand side on corner exit, while if you don’t push enough, you could quickly find yourself under attack from the driver behind.Out of Turn 2 and on the run into Turn 3, the second zone gives a driver the chance to retaliate, though crucially there is just one detection zone for both of these straights that open the lap, coming ahead of the penultimate corner, Turn 13.READ MORE: Arvid Lindblad on his fast F3 start, Sakhir win and adapting to a new ChampionshipThe third opportunity comes between Turns 8 and 9 in what is a long high-speed run into a sweeping chicane of Turns 9 and 10. The