New-look Albert Park layout to be five seconds faster after undergoing major overhaul. New-look Albert Park layout to be five seconds faster .

The Melbourne parklands circuit is currently undergoing a major overhaul with a number of geometric changes, expected to help promote overtaking, to be in place in time for this year’s AGP in November.

The most visible change is the Turn 9/10 complex, with the heavy stop into a tight right-hander replaced by a fast-flowing run onto Lakeside Drive.

A number of other areas will also be widened or re-profiled to create more racing lines and cambers that are conducive with wheel-to-wheel racing.

The AGPC has now formally unveiled the full suite of changes and outlined its expectations of the new layout.

Turn 1 will be widened by 2.5 metres to the driver’s right, with Turn 3 widened four metres in the same direction and given a camber adjustment. Turn 6 will be widened by 7.5 metres to the driver’s right to effectively become a right-hand sweeper rather than a stop corner. The minimum speed at the corner will skyrocket from 149 km/h to 219 km/h and form part of the fast, flowing run that will continue right through to Turn 13.

The changes at Turns 9/10 will likely see a fourth DRS zone added to Lakeside Drive, while Turn 13 will become slower and tighter thanks to a slight extension of the entry and sharper angle at the apex. The camber will also be adjusted and the corner widened by three metres.

Turn 15 will also be widened to the driver’s right and have its camber readjusted.

There will be some changes to the corner numbering system too, with 14 corners in total. That means what is currently known as Turns 11/12 will become Turns 9/10 and so on.

According to AGPC data the changes will see qualifying laptimes plummet by around five seconds, down to a predicted time of 1m15.8s.

That means the average qualifying speed will be up 15 km/h (to 251 km/h) and there will be a new top speed of 330 km/h heading into what is currently Turn 11. That point of the circuit will provide the greatest load through the cars as well at 5.4G.

The pitlane has already been widened by two metres, with plans to up the speed limit to 80 km/h, while a full resurfacing will take place between the 2021 and 2022 races.