F1 Australian Grand Prix: Who has taken the most number of poles?

Since the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne hosted the F1 Australian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has the highest number of pole positions at the venue with a total of eight pole positions. However, the seven-time British world champion has had only two victories at this circuit in his entire career.

Hamilton claimed the pole positions at the Australian venue in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Despite staggering statistics for pole positions in Australia, the Briton has claimed victory at the Melbourne track only twice, namely in 2008 and 2015.

The venue Down Under has often been a challenge when it comes to converting a pole position into a victory. Since 2012-2019, the Australian GP has been won only once from pole position.

Following the Briton, Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinenen and Sebastian Vettel have the second highest number of pole positions with three each. Schumacher has three pole positions at the Victorian circuit in 2001, 2003 and 2004. But the German seven-time world champion claimed four victories at the track in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004.

Four-time world champion Vettel has three pole positions in 2010, 2011 and 2013. The Aston Martin driver was able to claim one victory with the Red Bull F1 team in 2011 and two with Ferrari in 2017 and 2018. Double world champion Mika Hakkinen has three consecutive pole positions at the circuit from 1998 to 2000 and one victory at the 1998 Australian GP.

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What are the changes at the Albert Park circuit ahead of the 2022 F1 Australian GP?

Since F1’s last race at the Australian venue in 2019, several changes have been made to the circuit. The circuit has been resurfaced completely, and many corners and turns have been changed. The track has been widened turn 1, 6 and the final corner.

The chicane between Turn 9 and 10 has been removed and will now be a flat-out DRS section. The Albert Park circuit is the first F1 venue on the calendar to feature four DRS zones, with two detection points.

Changes to the circuit have been made to avoid a procession-like race and to allow more overtaking opportunities. In previous years, the circuit has been criticized for producing boring track action because it was difficult to overtake in the previous generation of F1 cars.

However, with new cars in a new era in the sport, there is optimism surrounding the entertainment value of the Australian race weekend.