★ Australian Grand Prix

01Lý do quan trọng

Melbourne holds the season's opening round in most years and has the largest paying audience in the sport. The promoter is a government corporation and the contract runs to 2037. In our reading it is the calendar's best example of a race that belongs to its city rather than its sponsors.

02Tuần lễ xung quanh sự kiện

Melbourne handles this without visible strain: the park closes progressively from late February, the trams keep running, and the suburbs carry on with a Grand Prix attached. In most years the weekend sits beside the Labour Day long weekend and the city's March festivals.

03Thời điểm đến

Thursday, when the gates open, leaving Monday or later. Melbourne rewards extra days and March is its best month.

04Nơi lưu trú

The central business district is the default, ten minutes by tram and with the most rooms. Southbank and South Yarra are closer and quieter; St Kilda puts you on the beach at the circuit's southern end; Fitzroy is better for eating than commuting.

05Tiếp cận và tiếp đón

The promoter publishes three categories: a park pass covering general admission, reserved grandstands, and hospitality, with Formula 1's Paddock Club alongside its own corporate products. General admission here is genuinely good, with mounded banks around most of the lap.

06Nơi diễn ra các hoạt động giao lưu

Inside the park, the marquee village and the general admission banks along the lake; outside it, the CBD laneways, Southbank's riverside and the beachfront at St Kilda.

07Hướng dẫn di chuyển

08Thông tin thực tiễn

09Lịch sử

The Australian Grand Prix dates from 1928 and a road race at Phillip Island. It joined the world championship in 1985 on a street circuit in Adelaide, which held it for eleven years, and moved to a rebuilt Albert Park in 1996. The contract was extended in 2022, twice, to 2037.

10Ai có mặt ở đây

An enormous domestic crowd, much of it on general admission; Melbourne's corporate sector in the marquee village; Asian and European visitors on a longer trip.