Hordes of F1 fans have stripped equipment and even paint from Albert Park in the aftermath of the Australian Grand Prix.
The 2026 event achieved a record-breaking four-day attendance of 483,934 people at Albert Park, concluding on Sunday with the main race won by British Mercedes star George Russell.
Once the formalities were over, fans dashed onto the Albert Park circuit to create their own F1 memories.
And many decided they wanted a memento from the occasion, taking everything they could get their hands on.
Signage, posters, banners and marquees were quickly snapped up. Fans also snatched ‘do not enter’ signs.
Some diehards were even filmed scraping paint and rubber from the track for their own little keepsakes.
Formula One fans stripped Albert Park bare after the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, even removing advertising hoardings
Many fans got away with prized possessions from the venue as keepsakes from the event
‘Saw so many people taking grass as if it’s not a park open to the public every other weekend of the year,’ one fan commented.
Another even came away with a truly prized memento: a tiny piece of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.
The Aussie crashed on his reconnaissance lap before the race and missed the Aussie GP entirely, and apparently the clean-up crew was not able to scoop up everything.
One viewer was sceptical, posting: ‘Yeah just for security to take it away the second you left the track.’
That only served as a challenge, with fans posting images of their pinched F1 treasures safely in their keeping at home.
Someone even managed to remove a large visitor map from the venue.
‘How? We tried to sneak out but they took it away at the track entrance,’ another fan commented on the pic of the map.
The opportunistic thief replied: ‘Just put it under the fence.’
Several fans tried to get this sign out of the circuit, only to be stopped by security. Then one fan had the idea of sliding it under a fence
A racegoer posted this photo, claiming to have retrieved a part of the McLaren that Oscar Piastri crashed on Sunday before the race even started
Another impressive keepsake was this race marker, which one fan managed to get back home
Another even showed their new pride and joy, an official race marker from the track standing more than a metre tall.
When the venue was stripped bare, some fans had to get creative to get their F1 souvenirs.
‘The amount of people picking up the rubber on the track – like what are you going to do with that?’ asked one Melbourne GP attendee on the TikTok video.
‘Little souvenir, I’m stoked I got some,’ another fan replied.
‘I have mine in my trinkets box. I’m a sentimental person, all objects have a meaning,’ replied another.
However, many had their souvenirs taken away by track officials before they could get them home.
‘When I was leaving there was a huge pile of everything confiscated,’ one fan posted.
While security tried to stop as many people as they could, others said event organisers didn’t care.
Just to show non-believers, F1 fans posted images of their haul from their homes after the event
Albert Park will be quickly transformed from race precinct to its normal state this week
‘The organisers don’t re-use them, they allow this. It’s not just Melbourne but [I know] Silverstone and Monza allow it too,’ one racing fan posted.
Because the majority of the stuff taken was destined for landfill or recycling anyway, F1 fans say their conscience is clean.
‘It’s all thrown away in the trash anyways,’ was the rationale of one fan, echoed by many more.
‘They are basically helping,’ suggested another.
Despite these rationales, taking anything from the Albert Park F1 circuit is strictly prohibited and considered theft, with hefty bans and fines a real possibility for those trying to pinch a souvenir.
