Boosted by McLaren frontrunner Oscar Piastri, Formula 1’s Australian GP is set to enjoy another attendance boost as event organisers embrace the uncertainty over the new 2026 regulations.
As was the case last year, Melbourne is hosting the F1 season opener instead of Bahrain. It’s naturally one of the most coveted spots on the calendar, and that rings true more than ever in 2026 given the uncertainties around a fresh pecking order and the way this new generation of cars will race. But the Australian GP’s chief events officer Tom Mottram sees the current doubts over energy deployment and concerns over the spectacle as an opportunity for a memorable season kick-off, rather than a risk.
When asked if there were any concerns the race would be a dud, Mottram replied: “I wouldn’t say so. It will be intriguing year one. It is somewhat out of our control. There are a lot of things that are in our control, but the on-track racing isn’t. I think regardless, if there’s not much that happens from an overtaking point of view, that will be an interesting story in itself.
“We did obviously modify and realign our track in 2021, which certainly has improved a lot of racing. We’ve seen a big increase in overtaking. But in saying that, who knows with these cars? But I think that’s part of the intrigue in itself.”
The unknowns over F1’s new era certainly haven’t hurt interest in the race, with Australian F1 viewership said to be up 53% year in year according to data provided by the series. That is in no small part down to Piastri’s impressive rise, turning into a title contender with McLaren in 2025.
At the height of Piastri’s first-ever title bid last year, Australian GP organisers announced they would name a grandstand after the Melburnian, as they have done with other big names from the country’s motorsport history. The Piastri grandstand, which swiftly sold out when it went on sale last August, is part of the main strand on the start-finish straight and comes with bespoke Aussie-themed merch to cheer on the country’s new favourite son.
“We wanted to celebrate and honour Oscar, even if he’s not quite a world champion yet,” Mottram explained. “He’s already a champion in our lives, with the amount of races he has already won, especially when we’ve already named stands after the likes of Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Sona Maleterova / Getty Images
“We’ve kind of carved out an area which is now the Piastri stand directly opposite the McLaren garages. It’s probably one of our most premium grandstands, right on the start-finish line. Everyone that goes in there will get caps and a flag so we’ll see all the OP colours. It’s one that sold out immediately.”
Piastri’s popularity is set to boost the 29th running of Albert Park’s Australian Grand Prix to another record number after topping out at 465,498 weekend visitors last year. “We’re certainly tracking to break that again,” said Mottream.
“We’ve slightly increased our venue capacity, so we’re now at a capacity of 141,000 on Sunday. We have our event fundamentals that drive what the capacity is, like having enough amenities, food, the ability to walk around and public transport getting to the circuit comfortably. We feel like we’ve really ticked the box in all of those areas.”
A significant part of the improved spectator flow is a new train station by Turn 6, the far end of the circuit, which should release some pressure from the main gates by the start-finish straight, and from the main tram line coming straight from the CBD area.
“We now have a new train station right on our doorstep at Albert Park, which is going to be a huge game changer for us,” Mottram said. “We’ve also tripled the capacity of our main overpass over the main straight. And throughout this year we’ve made a lot of big investments in some infrastructure to support crowd movement, because one thing we’ll never want to do is give up the customer experience for crowd records.”
Pitlane drops to 60km/h amid 11-team challenge
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
An additional challenge is the arrival of an 11th team in Cadillac, taking up additional garage and paddock space in what is one of the smaller enclosures on the F1 calendar. Ahead of the arrival of a brand-new $350m paddock building, the construction of which will start after this week’s event, the 2026 edition will feature a few compromises to accommodate F1’s newest entrant. To help pitlane congestion, Mottram says the event’s pitlane speed limit will drop back down from 80 to 60km/h, having last been increased in 2022.
“It’s certainly a challenge,” Mottram explained. “Our pit building and pitlane are probably one of the smaller ones on the calendar at the moment, so we’ve done a lot of work with F1 throughout the year since we’ve known the 11th team is coming on board to make sure we’ve got additional team hospitality, additional freight storage, additional pitwall room and things like that.
“The one thing that we can’t really change, unfortunately, at least this year, is the garage space. So it is a bit of a one-year stop-gap where it will be a bit of a squeeze. It also meant we’ve had to reduce our pitlane speed from 80km/h to 60km/h, just because it will be a little bit tighter for teams to pull in. But we wouldn’t change that for the excitement that will come with the 11th team in Cadillac.”
Another novelty for this year’s race is its partnership with Engineers Australia to celebrate International Women’s Day, which coincides with race day on Sunday 8 March. As part of the In Her Corner campaign to highlight women in key STEM roles, Turn 6 will be named after Haas race engineer Laura Mueller and Red Bull chief strategist Hannah Schmitz.
Laura Mueller, Race Engineer Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Haas F1 Team
“It was one of our key focus areas once we realised that our Sunday race day would be on Women’s International Day,” Mottram added. “This was a concept in partnership with Engineers Australia, who have been a massive supporter of the In Her Corner campaign. It’s been fantastic for us to support women in motorsport. We’ve got lots of great initiatives with Motorsport Australia and Girls on Track. And supporting these two engineers in having corners named after them is really special.”
A feature of the race that returned in 2025 is Melbourne’s traditional post-race track invasion. The feature was shelved for a year after spectators entered the track prematurely after the 2023 race, but a successful retooling of circuit’s access points has given the organisers confidence that their cherished tradition can remain in place.
“It was raining sideways last year, but other than that it went as well as it could have,” said Mottram. “We made a lot of changes and investments in some of the barriers to make sure people could get on and off the track safely. All plans are in place to make sure we can do that again this year.”
If the organisers have it all their way, the fans will be romping towards the rostrum to celebrate a maiden home podium for one of their own.
Podium Ceremony
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
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