Preparing for Melbourne: How the rookies are getting ready to go racing Down Under

Since the opening weekend of the season in Bahrain, the Formula 3 drivers and their teams have been hard at work preparing for Round two in Melbourne, Australia.

It will be the second consecutive year that F3 machinery will race around the Albert Park street circuit and while it is a favourite amongst many, including the drivers, racing at this track is still somewhat of an unknown quantity.

That is especially true for our 17 rookies, who will be learning plenty of new tracks this year. After navigating their way through the abrasive track surface of Sakhir, they now face the challenge of their first street track. So, how have they been preparing?

“Straight away when I came back from Bahrain, I had two days at home, already training at the gym,” said Trident driver Sami Meguetounif. “After two days I went directly back to Italy to the Trident factory to work on the sim and to prepare for Melbourne.”

The Frenchman enjoyed a strong debut weekend in Sakhir, finishing fourth in the Feature Race. But his attentions quickly turned to Melbourne, a track where Trident enjoyed success in 2023 when Gabriel Bortoleto converted pole position into a Feature Race victory.

Meguetounif jokingly admitted he could not tell us everything he had been doing to prepare but he did say the Brazilian’s success last year has been a part of their meetings.

“Trident won the Feature race with Gabriel last year, so they know what he did to be fast on the track,” explained Meguetounif.

“So, when we are doing the briefings, especially for Santiago Ramos and myself as rookies we learn about the track and the kind of kerbs they have, the runoff areas, and where we have to be careful to not make mistakes.

“We also look at tyre management, we have new compounds this year so we made some simulations in the simulator of what will happen with the tyres.

“We try to look at onboards, data, we also look at how the track improved from practice with a really green track to Quali and that's all the kind of stuff that we look at when we do those briefings.”

“I'm leaving quite early for the jetlag. It's important to be in the zone mentally and I think if you are still jetlagged you lose a bit of that"

But as Jenzer Motorsport’s Charlie Wurz will tell you, it is not just about the simulator. The Austrian driver talked through his Melbourne adaptation process and, while he has been in the simulator, he revealed that there are other factors that come into play.

“I'm leaving quite early for the jetlag,” said Wurz. “It's important to be already in the zone mentally and I think if you are still jetlagged you lose a bit of that. I want to make sure that I am there early and that I get well adjusted to the 10-hour time difference.

READ MORE: Arvid Lindblad on his fast F3 start, Sakhir win and adapting to a new Championship

“I think that will definitely help me and if you are there for a week you are more comfortable in Melbourne as it's on the other side of the world. Being bit more comfortable in the hotel and everything for sure that will help as well, so all kind of preparations.”

As for his work in the simulator, Wurz was happy with what he had seen, calling the track “awesome”. He however believes that the 45 minutes of Practice running will be critical given that the sim is not always the same as being out on track.

However, the sim has served as a way for him to understand the “general tendencies” of the track, especially under braking. It has also helped him get an understanding of the tyres, especially with Melbourne offering a much different tarmac to the one he encountered earlier this month.

“Bahrain's abrasive surface compared to Melbourne is basically the opposite,” added Wurz. “We saw last year the degradation was really low and they could do multiple push laps in a row.

“So, that will be definitely the warmup and everything, which is key with the Pirelli tyres, will be quite different, so it is important to be on top of that in the beginning.”

Another driver preparing for his foray down under is Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin. The British racer also explained how the simulator has played a big part in his preparations, calling it his “second home”.

READ MORE: City life, good food and racing heritage nearby: Sami Meguetounif on his hometown

“Sim! Lots of sim work back at home and at the factory,” said Voisin. “That is the only thing we can really do to learn the circuit, especially since running time is so limited in F3. Apart from that lots a training and some schoolwork in between too.

“It is vital to do as many laps as possible on the sim so that you hit the ground running on Friday morning. I think the sim is important to the lay the foundations and know what you need to do when you get to the track.”

However, Voisin believes it is a balance as when asked if you can do too much work in the simulator, he replied: “I like to keep it quite simple as the sim can sometime over complicate things.

“You can sometimes focus too much on driving the simulator which will always be slightly different to real life.”

But how are the drivers finding the balance of not just learning a new track but also settling into their surroundings. Meguetounif, Wurz and Voisin are in their first year’s racing F3 machinery, and are having to acclimatise to new teams, tyres and much more.

For the Meguetounif it has been all about preparation and intense work. He revealed that he had a late night in Sakhir after the Sprint Race, where he finished 10th, working with his engineers to better understand how to manage his tyres.

“I think that the key is preparation,” he explained. “I have been watching what Trident have done in the past, thanks to data, onboards and stuff like that.

“It is a tricky car and tyre to get correct, but I think the team and I are doing a solid job"

“I have also been watching replays of all the races of F3 in the past four seasons to learn everything I can. Even if it's small things about the tyres because it's really different for us coming from other categories.”

“It's definitely not easy but in general I always learn tracks easy,” added Wurz. “So that's a big point of mine.

“But in general, it's always a bit tricky with only having 40 minutes of Free Practice and around some tracks you only get three, four laps in but on this track, with the low deg, we will be able to do a bit more. It's always tricky, it's always a bit challenging but that's part of F3.”

As for Voisin, when asked how he is coping, he replied: “Learning on the job! It is a tricky car and tyre to get correct, but I think the team and I are doing a solid job and building it up step by step. New tracks don’t make it easy but that’s what the sim is for!”