- Issue surrounding Melbourne race has raised its head again
McLaren boss Zak Brown has thrown his support behind turning the Melbourne Grand Prix into a night race, potentially creating even more division with Aussie Oscar Piastri.
The topic of changing the Victorian showpiece to a night race has reared its head again after previous pushes to change the 3pm start.
At present the race commences at 3pm AEDT, which is 4am for UK audiences and 11pm in New York.
There has been stakeholder pressure to change the Aussie race to night-time to be more favourable for TV audiences.
Now Brown has thrown his support behind the move – without mentioning the TV ratings angle.
‘It [the grand prix] would be cool under lights. I think it would be cool. I like night racing,’ he said.
McLaren boss Zak Brown has thrown his support behind calls for the Australian Grand Prix to be held at night
Aussie Oscar Piastri is not in favour of the idea and wants the start to stay at 3pm
Piastri is pictured in his McLaren during preseason testing in Bahrain last month
‘In general, I don’t think we have enough night races and I think that race in particular [would work] because the weather is always good, it’s a beautiful setting and I think it would look good under lights.’
Tensions simmered at McLaren last season as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris went head-to-head in a fierce Drivers’ Championship battle that tested the team’s internal balance.
Some supporters questioned whether Piastri was given equal backing after he surrendered a 34-point lead to finish third, 16 points behind Norris, amid controversial team orders and race incidents that appeared to favour his teammate.
With difficult conversations held behind closed doors and scrutiny intensifying over leadership decisions, the title fight exposed clear strains within the Woking outfit.
Now Piastri has gone against his team boss by saying the Melbourne GP should stay a daytime race.
‘I think it is nice the way it is,’ Piastri said.
‘It is obviously better when it is sunny, but I don’t think it needs to be under lights.
‘We’ve got a lot of races now that are night races, I think certainly for us as drivers often the atmosphere is actually better during the day because you can see the fans a lot more, a lot of the grandstands at some night races can be quite dark.
‘Even in Melbourne you see the skyline and everything so I am happy with the way it is.’
Aussie race fans have backed Piastri as well.
‘No thanks. Needs to go back to 2pm,’ one posted.
‘Why should Australia have to watch it in the dark under lights? Most people watch F1 on catch up and I personally like watching it in the sunshine,’ added another.
‘Why? Because Europeans can’t be bothered getting out of bed at 6.00Am to watch it! How about starting the Euro GPs at 2.00Pm again (10.00Pm here) so we don’t have to sit up half the night to watch them,’ posted yet another.
While F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has not ruled out a future shift, there are currently no confirmed plans to move the race from its daytime slot.
