2013 Australian Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 19 in the 2013 Formula One season | |||
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| Date | 17 March 2013 | ||
| Official name | 2013 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia | ||
| Course | Temporary street circuit | ||
| Course length | 5.303 km (3.295 mi) | ||
| Distance | 58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 mi) | ||
| Weather |
Scattered Clouds, Fine and Dry Air Temp 18 °C (64 °F) Track Temp 25 °C (77 °F) dropping to 19 °C (66 °F) |
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| Attendance | 103,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Red Bull-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:27.407 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Kimi Räikkönen
|
Lotus-Renault | |
| Time | 1:29.274 on lap 58 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Lotus-Renault | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Red Bull-Renault | ||
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Scattered Clouds, Fine and Dry Air Temp 18 °C (64 °F)
The 2013 Australian Grand Prix (formally known as the 2013 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 17 March 2013 as the opening round of the 2013 championship. The race was held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park. It was the 78th race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix—which dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928—and the 18th time the event has been held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. The race was won by Kimi Räikkönen with Fernando Alonso coming second and Sebastian Vettel coming third.
Following the collapse of HRT F1 in December 2012, the grid for the season was reduced to twenty-two entries, necessitating changes to the structure of qualifying. The three-round knockout system introduced in 2006 remained in place, but only six cars, instead of seven, were eliminated during the first period of qualifying, with six more eliminated at the end of the second period. The third qualifying period remains unchanged with the ten fastest drivers all advancing to the final ten minutes of qualifying.
During the winter off-season, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile introduced new rules restricting the use of the Drag Reduction System during free practice and qualifying, limiting its use to the circuit's designated DRS zones. However, during Friday practice, the race stewards encountered a technical glitch in the telemetry system that controlled the availability of DRS, meaning that the system would be completely unrestricted. This forced the stewards to rely on drivers to use the system honestly, threatening penalties to any driver caught using DRS outside the designated areas. The same error meant that the stewards would be unable to notify drivers via telemetry of warning flags, instead relying on marshalls around the circuit to display them and teams to warn drivers up upcoming flags during the race.
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