and the 16th Formula One Australian race. It took place on 4 March at the 16-turn Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park, Victoria. The track is a semi-permanent road course. Due to the dust laid on it by road traffic all year round, it offers drivers a low amount of grip. Engineers set up the cars to extract the maximum amount of downforce at the rear and to be stable in high-speed corners. This puts a strain on traction and braking and prompted teams to install cooling devices on the brakes' rotor and calipers. Of the 22 drivers on the starting grid, four made their debut. The 1999 Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya joined the Williams team to partner Ralf Schumacher, replacing Jenson Button, who was loaned to the Benetton team on a two-year deal. At the Arrows team, International Formula 3000 (IF3000) participant Enrique Bernoldi replaced Pedro de la Rosa, who lost his race seat and joined the Prost team as test and reserve driver. IF3000 driver Fernando Alonso was promoted from a test driver role at Minardi to a race seat. Kimi Räikkönen, the 2000 Formula Renault 2.0 UK champion, drove for the Sauber team in Melbourne, partnering Nick Heidfeld. Many observers, including Jaguar's Eddie Irvine, Button and the president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body), Max Mosley, criticised Sauber's choice to sign Räikkönen because he had competed in 23 car races prior to his debut and no F1 experience. He took part in a test session at the Circuito de Jerez before 25 FIA commission members for performance analysis in December 2000. Räikkönen was granted a super licence by a vote of 24 to 1 at a FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting on 7 December. At the front of the field, the press considered the 2000 champion Michael Schumacher of Ferrari the favourite to take his fourth World Drivers' Championship. Mika Häkkinen of the McLaren team was predicted to be his nearest challenger. Michael Schumacher arrived with the physiological advantage as Ferrari exceeded its target of completing more than in pre-season testing. He said he was confident about his chances in Australia: "The F2001 has behaved very well from the first to last day of testing. It has performed brilliantly at Fiorano and Mugello. I can say