From cyclone to sun, sun to rain, Australia is offering a little bit of just about everything as the Formula 1 season gets underway with a wet race forecast.

Australia was affected by mass blackouts and flooding after a cyclone brought wild weather to the east coast, affecting southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales over the weekend. It also affected Australia’s newest Formula 1 driver Jack Doohan.

The weather forecast for the Australian GP weekend

The Queensland’s racer, son of MotoGP legend Mick Doohan, headed home for a few days in the build-up to his inaugural home Grand Prix.

The wild weather meant he got to shut out the world, and the rumours.

“No, it was quite OK,” he told the media in Melbourne. “It was nice. I had three days back on the Gold Coast.

“And to be honest, with no actual, like… When you’re forced to stay inside, it’s almost nice, just not doing anything. Three days switching off and we were very fortunate to be safe and have no issues and I could fly down here early Tuesday morning.”

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But arriving in Melbourne, where thankfully there isn’t a cyclone, Doohan and his rival Formula 1 drivers still aren’t having the best of Australia’s weather with chilly temperatures and rain in the air.

It is expected to clear ahead of Friday’s two practice sessions, but even then, it will be cooler than usual at the Albert Park circuit with a high of just 24’C.

More cloud cover is forecast for Saturday with a 10 per cent chance of rain on a hot and humid day. The high will be a sweltering 36’C.

That will drop to 27’C for the Grand Prix, but the rain is expected to sweep in on Sunday with a 95 per cent chance of showers during the race.

“The weather,” Doohan continued, “doesn’t look like it’s much better right now. Hopefully it gets sunnier for Friday and Saturday so we can at least experience some warm weather that we’re supposed to offer here in Australia.”

The hotter temperatures have Oscar Piastri conceding McLaren’s advantage from pre-season testing on a cold Bahrain circuit may be overturned in Melbourne.

“The weather is going to be different to Bahrain and different every hour by the look of it,” he said. “So it’s going to be an interesting weekend for sure.

“I think hopefully we’re expecting to be somewhere up the front. Whether that’s right at the pointy end, we’ll wait until Saturday, I think.”

One driver hoping it stays dry on Sunday is Max Verstappen.

Although he dominated Formula 1’s most recent wet-weather race, winning the Brazilian Grand Prix by 16s despite starting P17, he believes it’s “just nicer” when it is dry.

“I like it to be dry because it’s just nicer,” he said. “Also, for the fans.

“But if it’s wet, it’s wet. It’s fine as well, but I don’t know how we will perform in in the dry or the wet at the moment, you know, so it’s a bit a bit difficult to say.

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