The release of session times for the 2023 Formula 1 season offers the opportunity to forecast Supercars’ track schedule at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The top tier of local racing will be the third rung of the support programme in Albert Park next year with Formula 2 and Formula 3 set to make their debut at the event.

Both F1 feeder categories operate to a standard weekend format, with a practice session on Friday leading into qualifying.

Two races then follow, with a Sprint encounter on Saturday before the Feature race on Sunday.

As both championships have world-feed television requirements, as does Formula 1, we can roughly position those on the schedule.

Supercars and Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, the other support category set to race in Melbourne, can then be worked into the gaps in the schedule.

While far from gospel, the exercise does suggest there is sufficient time in the programme for meaningful Supercars racing, with four races a very realistic possibility.

However, it looks set to mean a rejigged format, with Qualifying logically taking place on Thursday when track time is at less of a premium.

There is, hypothetically, a window of opportunity on Saturday morning for a rapid-fire back-to-back Qualifying hit out for the weekend’s latter two races.

However, it would be early as the track would need to be vacated by about 10:00.

With the stated aim to…