2017 Australian Grand Prix

Entrants

Pascal Wehrlein will not start the race. Wehrlein sustained a back injury at the Race of Champions during the winter and, although cleared as medically fit ahead of the first practice session, withdrew before FP3 as a precaution — citing the increased physical demands of the 2017-specification cars and his limited running during pre-season testing. Antonio Giovinazzi replaces him for the remainder of the weekend.

Lance Stroll makes his Formula One début with Williams. Giovinazzi and Stroll are the only rookies in the field. Stoffel Vandoorne starts his first full season at McLaren after a one-off appearance at the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix, and Esteban Ocon starts his first full season at Force India after racing the last nine rounds of 2016.

The reigning champion, Nico Rosberg, does not defend his title; he retired from Formula One five days after winning the 2016 championship.

Tyres

Pirelli supplies ultrasoft, supersoft and soft tyres. Because the tyre selection deadline fell before teams had run the new 2017-specification compounds at pre-season testing, Pirelli allocated all drivers identical sets: seven ultrasofts, four supersofts and two softs.

Track changes

Organisers introduced Tecpro barriers to the run-off areas at the fastest points of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and re-profiled existing tyre barriers, part of the FIA’s circuit-wide safety update programme ahead of the faster 2017-specification cars.