The new Formula One season kicks off in Australia, with the sport preparing to enter a new era.

Here we run through the key changes, driver line-ups, dates for your diary and the best Opta facts ahead of lights out at Albert Park.

KEY CHANGES

- The most visible change will be the addition of the Halo head protection system to every car on the grid - a contraption that has split opinion, with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff jokingly threatening to remove his with a chainsaw.

- All of the tyres supplied by Pirelli in 2018 will be softer, with two new compounds added to the line-up - hypersoft and superhard.

- The number of power units available to teams has been reduced from four complete units to three each of a number of different components.

- The French Grand Prix and German Grand Prix are back on the calendar, while Malaysia drops off.

- McLaren's woeful spell using Honda power is over and they will be supplied by Renault in 2018, with Toro Rosso now utilising Honda engines.

- Races will begin at 10 past the hour, rather than on the hour.

THE DRIVERS

Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton (GBR)
Valtteri Bottas (FIN)

Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel (GER)
Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)

Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS)
Max Verstappen (NED)

Force India
Sergio Perez (MEX)
Esteban Ocon (FRA)

Williams
Lance Stroll (CAN)
Sergey Sirotkin (RUS)

Renault
Nico Hulkenberg (GER)
Carlos Sainz (ESP)

Toro Rosso
Pierre Gasly (FRA)
Brendon Hartley (NZL)

Haas
Romain Grosjean (FRA)
Kevin Magnussen (DEN)

McLaren
Fernando Alonso (ESP)
Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL)

Sauber
Marcus Ericsson (SWE)
Charles Leclerc (MON)

THE CALENDAR

March 25 - Australia
April 8 - Bahrain
April 15 - China
April 29 - Azerbaijan
May 13 - Spain
May 27 - Monaco
June 10 - Canada
June 24 - France
July 1 - Austria
July 8 - Great Britain
July 22 - Germany
July 29 - Hungary
August 26 - Belgium
September 2 - Italy
September 16 - Singapore
September 30 - Russia
October 7 - Japan
October 21 - USA
October 28 - Mexico
November 11 - Brazil
November 25 - UAE