Twenty years ago, the last iteration of the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide concluded the 1995 Formula One season. Pole-sitter Damon Hill won the race at a canter, while title winner Michael Schumacher retired after a collision with Jean Alesi.
However, the most remarkable fact from the event was that the whole weekend welcomed 520,000 fans. It is an all-time F1 attendance record which, despite the sport’s peak popularity ratings currently, still stands to this day as the only race to attract half a million spectators.
But Albert Park in Melbourne, hosts since 1996, is getting there. This year’s event, spread over four days, attracted 465,498 people – an increase of over 140,000 since the street circuit last hosted the season-opener in 2019 – and more significantly, 350,000 more than last year’s season-opener in Bahrain.
From media sessions and the rough-and-tough Australian Supercars on Thursday to a thrillingly chaotic grand prix in the rain on Sunday, Albert Park exuded a fervent atmosphere throughout the entire weekend. You only needed to hear the rapturous noise from the grandstands when hometown hero Oscar Piastri delicately reversed his car out of the grass as the drama peaked in the 58-lap grand prix.
It was a fever-pitch opening to a fever-pitch season.
“It’s certainly been more significant this year, having the season-opener,” says Travis Auld, the CEO of the Australian GP Corporation and former Aussie Rules executive, tells The Independent.
“You’ve got Lewis in red, you’ve got Oscar, you’ve got the 75th anniversary of F1. You’ve got new drivers on track. There’s so much interest and the sport is doing so well.
“We’re definitely the envy of most sports around the world.”
The electrifying vibe doesn’t just end at Albert Park, a stone’s throw from St Kilda Beach to the south of the city. Wandering aimlessly down the Yarra Promenade, to the side of the Yarra River which intertwines through Melbourne CBD and beyond, the streets are decked out in huge merchandise stalls, one for every team.
There is a Ferrari simulator, with a child jubilant in the cockpit as he rashly negotiates the street circuit. And further east, at Melbourne Park (home of the Australian Open) is a festival where thousands of fans – those unfortunate enough not to land a grand prix ticket – gather for driver appearances and live music.
For one week only, the entire sport has taken over Melbourne – one of the world’s great sporting cities. It is a far cry from two decades ago when the ‘Save Albert Park’ rally group, which still calls for the “total and permanent termination of motor racing in Albert Park Reserve”, was at its peak.
“It’s about bringing the best of Melbourne to Albert Park and vice-versa,” Auld says.
“Walking through the circuit, you’ll see iconic Melbourne brands. We have themed the entire airport with F1. For those who were here last year, they will have seen a lot of things which are different. We have to keep innovating and pushing the boundaries.
“The sheer scale is extraordinary. Our demographic has changed a lot – last year, 43% of our attendees were female and the audience is getting younger, with more families.
For F1, who have four lucrative races in the Middle East, which are forced to be either at the start of the season or the end due to the scorching summer temperatures, it presents something of a quandary over the next decade.
Australia has a long-term contract with the sport until 2037 and despite serious interest from Sydney, Melbourne is set to remain the host for the future after a record-breaking capacity for this event. They have an agreement to host three more season-openers over the next decade. But after the soaring success of this year’s event, how can F1 really look away from their jewel in the crown down under for race No. 1?
“We like to shape the narrative of the season,” Auld adds, playing down the rivalry with Bahrain for the first race. “We want to be the best, but we’ve noticed quite a collaborative approach from promoters. We like to celebrate each other’s success.
“But I do think we’ve raised the bar this year.”
One obvious argument against Australia is the time zone. For a UK audience, a 4am start time was far from ideal to see Hamilton make his Ferrari bow. While Auld ruled out a night race in the near future, a slight modification of the start time to later in the day was not dismissed out of hand.
Yet F1 is fast becoming a truly worldwide sport, steering away from its Euro-centric roots. A rotational policy for races at the end of this decade, with Spa-Francorchamps the first race confirmed to be held once every two years, also signifies F1’s ever-expanding appeal. And while Australia can keep attracting a record number of patrons, it seems an obvious location to launch the season. It is currently vying with Silverstone and Austin to be the first modern-day race to reach half a million spectators, something Auld acknowledges as a “magic number.”
Could it happen in the next few years?
“We have a new train station next year which will help,” he says, admitting that the event could have released more tickets this year. “We need to invest in more infrastructure and overpasses. So if we do reach half a million, we’ll do it in the right way.
“We have to preserve the magic of this event.”
