A record crowd of 136,347 turned out yesterday to will Australian Oscar Piastri from his front row grid position to the chequered flag, but to no avail as he spun out and was overtaken, finishing ninth.
While the Albert Park circuit has capacity for up to 154,000 spectators – this was the record turnout on the final day of the event in 1996 – it was standing room only for many fans. These days, there are 44,000 seats across 17 grandstands with a range of public and corporate hospitality outlets. Ground passes remain popular at over $300 each.
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation reported last year’s event hosted 45,998 hospitality guests over the four days, an increase of seven per cent on 2023.
A major contributor to the city’s visitor economy, the Grand Prix kept Melbourne’s hotels, restaurants, bars and transport providers busy.
Melbourne’s hotels have confirmed their busiest period in recent months during the F1 Grand Prix, recording over 90 per cent occupancy for the three nights from Friday to Sunday.
Dougal Hollis, the general manager of the Victorian branch of Accommodation Australia, said his research team reported Friday night occupancy at 91 per cent, up three percent on the same time last year, Saturday occupancy of 94 per cent also up three per cent, and Sunday occupancy of 90 per cent, up eight per cent.
Hollis said hoteliers reported apartment style accommodation, catering for groups, was the first to fill.
Another interesting statistic from the weekend was the percentage of female attendees at the event, which reached 44 per cent, said to be a reflection of the success of the Netflix series, Drive to Survive, drawing new audiences to the sport.
Hollis said that during a recent meeting with hoteliers and the Grand Prix Corporation, they were informed the International attendance was between eight and nine per cent, but that organisers intended to lift that to between 12 and 15 per cent.
While a crowd of 600,000 at the event would be possible in theory, Melbourne still has to beat Adelaide’s long standing record crowd at an Australian Grand Prix, when 520,000 attended the city street circuit in 1995, the year before Melbourne “stole” the event.
Melbourne’s new ANZAC station near the Shrine of Rememberance on St Kilda Road provided another means of attending the event by train and contributed to the record attendance along with a new grandstand built on the nearby turn six of the 5.2km track.
But Melbourne also moved some of the F1 activity away from Albert Park, offering a five-day F1 fan festival in the Melbourne Park tennis precinct. Organisers are also reported to have plans to include the Melbourne CBD in next year’s pre-race activity.
Melbourne’s next major event this month is the Avalon Australian International Airshow from March 25–30. It is both a public event and a trade show attracting more than 248,000 visitors, of which 8.9 per cent are international.
