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166-625: The Australian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event which is under contract to host Formula One until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venues having been used since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928 . The race became part of the Formula One World Championship in 1985 . Since 1996 , it has been held at
332-486: A rev limiter . The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) believed that allowing some teams to have such technical freedom would have created a 'two-tier' championship, and thus requested urgent talks with the FIA. But talks broke down and FOTA teams announced, with the exception of Williams and Force India , that 'they had no choice' but to form a breakaway championship series . On 24 June, Formula One's governing body and
498-407: A 2007 auditor-general's report found costs to host the event exceeded benefits by $ 6.7 million, while a 2012 report commissioned by Economists at Large for Save Albert Park estimated that the 2012 Grand Prix resulted in a net economic loss to Victoria of between $ 48.8m and $ 66.7m, with a mid-range estimate of $ 60.55m. The 2007 Australian Grand Prix ran at a $ 34.6 million loss, while according to Crikey,
664-519: A Great Place for the Race". Some 401,000 people turned out for the four days leading up to and including the first race in 1996, which remains a record for the event. The logistics of creating a temporary circuit and hosting an event of the magnitude of a Formula One Grand Prix from scratch were not lost on the international visitors, with Melbourne winning the F1 Constructors' Association Award for
830-627: A ban on ground-effect aerodynamics during 1983 . But by then, turbocharged engines, which Renault had pioneered in 1977 , were producing over 520 kW (700 bhp) and were essential to be competitive. By 1986 , a BMW turbocharged engine achieved a flash reading of 5.5 bar (80 psi) pressure, estimated to be over 970 kW (1,300 bhp) in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix . The next year, power in race trim reached around 820 kW (1,100 bhp), with boost pressure limited to only 4.0 bar. These cars were
996-580: A bid by Melbourne's other circuit Sandown (though Sandown was able to attract a round of the World Sportscar Championship to its upgraded track in 1984 ). As it turned out, F1 would be tempted away from Melbourne by a far more attractive option but it was listed as a reserve race in the 1982 F1 calendar. The Australian Grand Prix became a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1985 with
1162-675: A car park within the park. The circuit is renowned as being a smooth and high-speed test for Formula One teams and drivers. Its characteristics are similar to the only other street circuit set in a public park used in the Formula One World Championship, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal which hosts the Canadian Grand Prix . The promotional theme for the first race in Melbourne was "Melbourne – What
1328-534: A combined field of Formula One and Formula 5000 padded out with the Australised version of Formula Atlantic cars, Formula Pacific. The newly crowned world champion, Jones swept the field aside in his Williams - Ford , but with only two F1 cars entering (the other being the Alfa Romeo 179 driven by Bruno Giacomelli ). The continuing disintegration of F5000 saw Jane concentrate the next four Grands Prix on
1494-469: A driver's fastest lap in that period (barring infractions) counts. Any timed lap started before the end of that period may be completed and will count toward that driver's placement. The number of cars eliminated in each period is dependent on the total number of cars entered into the championship. Currently, with 20 cars, Q1 runs for 18 minutes, and eliminates the slowest five drivers. During this period, any driver whose best lap takes longer than 107% of
1660-520: A fleet of 250F Grand Prix cars and 300S sports racing cars. Moss won the Grand Prix from Maserati teammate Jean Behra . That 1956 race would inspire the next great era of the Grand Prix. The growing influence of engineer-drivers Jack Brabham and a couple of years behind him New Zealander Bruce McLaren would transform the race. Brabham, who first won the Grand Prix in 1955 in a Cooper T40 Bristol he had brought home from his first foray into English racing, would test new developments for Cooper during
1826-482: A guerrilla war with a very long-term aim in view". FOCA threatened to establish a rival series and boycotted a Grand Prix, and FISA withdrew its sanction from races. The result was the 1981 Concorde Agreement , which guaranteed technical stability, as teams were to be given reasonable notice of new regulations. Although FISA asserted its right to the TV revenues, it gave FOCA the administration of those rights. FISA imposed
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#17327760697331992-634: A last-ditch overtaking move on the last lap. Piquet won from the Ferraris of Mansell and Prost. There was pre-race controversy when Prost refused to take part in both the annual end of season drivers' photo and the special photo shoot with the World Champions in attendance (including legendary five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio , three-time champions Sir Jack Brabham , Jackie Stewart , Niki Lauda, and Nelson Piquet; and other world champions James Hunt , Alan Jones, Denny Hulme and Senna), as Prost
2158-404: A management buyout to become Brawn GP , with Ross Brawn and Nick Fry running and owning the majority of the organisation. Brawn GP laid off hundreds of employees, but won the year's world championships. BMW F1 was bought out by the original founder of the team, Peter Sauber . The Lotus F1 Team was another, formerly manufacturer-owned team that reverted to "privateer" ownership, together with
2324-468: A new Concorde Agreement committing them to the sport until 2025, including a $ 145 million budget cap for car development to support equal competition and sustainable development. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the sport to adapt to budgetary and logistical limitations. A significant overhaul of the technical regulations intended to be introduced in the 2021 season was pushed back to 2022, with constructors instead using their 2020 chassis for two seasons and
2490-507: A new movement for extra safety in the sport. Luckily, Häkkinen recovered fully and was fit to race again in 1996, thus missing only one race. Häkkinen climbed back into a Formula One car at Paul Ricard three months after the accident. The final F1 race at Adelaide was won by Damon Hill in a Williams, with almost all of his main rivals including Schumacher retiring, and Hill finished two laps ahead of second-placed Olivier Panis. In 1993 prominent Melbourne businessman Ron Walker began working with
2656-530: A number of Grand Prix racing organisations made suggestions for a new championship to replace the European Championship, but due to the suspension of racing during the conflict, the new International Formula for cars did not become formalised until 1946, to become effective in 1947. The new World Championship was instituted to commence in 1950 . The first world championship race, the 1950 British Grand Prix , took place at Silverstone Circuit in
2822-404: A partnership with Lego , with the first new sets releasing in 2025. The regulations governing Formula One are set to be revised for the 2026 season, with big changes planned to help encourage closer and more competitive racing. Changes include: In November 2024, General Motors reached an agreement to enter Formula 1 in 2026 with its Cadillac brand. A Formula One Grand Prix event spans
2988-425: A pre-race agreement between the pair that whoever made it to the first corner in the lead on lap one would be allowed to win. Ferrari won its first Grand Prix in Melbourne in 1999, but it was not with team number one Michael Schumacher . Northern Irishman Eddie Irvine took his maiden victory after the all-conquering McLarens of Häkkinen and Coulthard retired before half-distance. Schumacher broke his Melbourne drought
3154-470: A press release stating it had been informed it was not entered for the 2010 season, and an FIA press release said the FOTA representatives had walked out of the meeting. On 1 August, it was announced FIA and FOTA had signed a new Concorde Agreement, bringing an end to the crisis and securing the sport's future until 2012. To compensate for the loss of manufacturer teams, four new teams were accepted entry into
3320-487: A puncture that caused damage to his McLaren; this was the 1982 champion's last Formula One race. Whilst comfortably in the top three with 20 laps to go, Mansell's Williams suffered a spectacular mechanical failure, with a rear tyre puncture at 180 mph (290 km/h) on the Brabham Straight, creating a huge shower of sparks as the floor of the vehicle dragged along the bitumen surface. Mansell fought to control
3486-520: A race held in variable conditions. Normal service was resumed in 2004 with the Ferraris of Schumacher and Barrichello running rampant – within two laps of Friday practice, Schumacher had obliterated the Albert Park lap record, and sailed to a crushing win. In 2005, the race was won by Renault 's Giancarlo Fisichella after a storm during Saturday qualifying produced a topsy-turvy grid. Barrichello and Fisichella's teammate Fernando Alonso came through
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#17327760697333652-516: A reason to impose rule changes that otherwise, under the Concorde Agreement, would have had to be agreed upon by all the teams—most notably the changes introduced for 1998 . This so-called 'narrow track' era resulted in cars with smaller rear tyres, a narrower track overall, and the introduction of grooved tyres to reduce mechanical grip. The objective was to reduce cornering speeds and produce racing similar to rainy conditions by enforcing
3818-458: A right–left chicane with a heavy braking zone on the approach, the redesign saw them removed. This was done to raise the approach speed for old turns 11 and 12. Several other corners were reprofiled to encourage overtaking, most notably the old turn 13, which was widened to create additional racing lines. Positive camber was also added to allow drivers to carry more speed through the corner. The main straight and pit lane were also redesigned, with
3984-434: A season (13, since beaten by Max Verstappen ), and most Drivers' Championships (seven, tied with Lewis Hamilton as of 2021). Schumacher's championship streak ended on 25 September 2005, when Renault driver Fernando Alonso became Formula One's youngest champion at that time (until Lewis Hamilton in 2008 and followed by Sebastian Vettel in 2010 ). During 2006, Renault and Alonso won both titles again. Schumacher retired at
4150-442: A smaller contact patch between tyre and track. According to the FIA, this was to reduce cornering speeds in the interest of safety. Results were mixed, as the lack of mechanical grip resulted in the more ingenious designers clawing back the deficit with aerodynamic grip. This resulted in pushing more force onto the tyres through wings and aerodynamic devices, which in turn resulted in less overtaking, as these devices tended to make
4316-609: A tar seal for the circuit still a year away, the race was won by Englishman Peter Whitehead racing a new voiturette ERA B-Type that was just too fast for the locally developed machinery. One more race was held, at the Lobethal Circuit near the South Australian town of Lobethal in 1939 , before the country was plunged into World War II . In the immediate post-war era, racing was sparse with competitors using pre-war cars with supplies cobbled together around
4482-427: A token system limiting which parts could be modified introduced. The start of the 2020 season was delayed by several months, and both it and 2021 seasons were subject to several postponements, cancellations, and rescheduling of races due to shifting restrictions on international travel. Many races took place behind closed doors and with only essential personnel present to maintain social distancing . In 2022,
4648-459: A tyre failure at the early part of the first qualifying session at the high speed Brewery Bend between Jones and Brabham Straights, which resulted in him crashing heavily into the outside wall. He was critically injured in the crash and was saved only due to an emergency cricothyroidotomy that was performed by the side of the track by Sid Watkins . This incident forged a strong bond between Häkkinen and team principal Ron Dennis , and also sent forth
4814-743: A valid Super Licence , the highest class of racing licence the FIA issues, and the races must be held on grade one tracks , the highest grade rating the FIA issues for tracks. Formula One cars are the world's fastest regulated road-course racing cars , owing to very high cornering speeds achieved by generating large amounts of aerodynamic downforce , much of which is generated by front and rear wings. The cars depend on electronics, aerodynamics , suspension , and tyres . Traction control , launch control , and automatic shifting , and other electronic driving aids were first banned in 1994 . They were briefly reintroduced in 2001 , and have more recently been banned since 2004 and 2008 , respectively. With
4980-403: A weekend. It typically begins with two free practice sessions on Friday, and one free practice session on Saturday. Additional drivers (commonly known as third drivers ) are allowed to run on Fridays, but only two cars may be used per team, requiring a race driver to give up their seat. A qualifying session is held after the last free practice session. This session determines the starting order for
5146-399: A world championship race. It entered the 1961 British Grand Prix , the only front-engined car to compete that year. During 1962 , Lotus introduced a car with an aluminium-sheet monocoque chassis instead of the traditional space-frame design. This proved to be the greatest technological breakthrough since the introduction of mid-engined cars. In 1968 , sponsorship was introduced to
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5312-500: Is allocated one set of the softest tyres for use in Q3. The cars that qualify for Q3 must return them after Q3; the cars that do not qualify for Q3 can use them during the race. As of 2022, all drivers are given a free choice of tyre to use at the start of the Grand Prix, whereas in previous years only the drivers that did not participate in Q3 had free tyre choice for the start of the race. Any penalties that affect grid position are applied at
5478-494: Is his own cars before Stewart and McRae each took a pair of wins. Towards the end of the 1970s, the race again became a home to returning European-based antipodeans like Alan Jones and Larry Perkins with Warwick Brown winning the 1977 race, while in 1976 , touring car racer John Goss completed a remarkable double becoming the only driver to win the Grand Prix and the Bathurst 1000 touring car race . Declining economy and
5644-434: The 1955 Le Mans disaster . The first major technological development in the sport was Bugatti 's introduction of mid-engined cars. Jack Brabham , the world champion in 1959 , 1960 , and 1966 , soon proved the mid-engine's superiority over all other engine positions. By 1961 all teams had switched to mid-engined cars. The Ferguson P99 , a four-wheel drive design, was the last front-engined Formula One car to enter
5810-457: The 2002 Austrian Grand Prix . Other changes included the qualifying format, the point-scoring system, the technical regulations, and rules specifying how long engines and tyres must last. A 'tyre war' between suppliers Michelin and Bridgestone saw lap times fall, although, at the 2005 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, seven out of ten teams did not race when their Michelin tyres were deemed unsafe for use, leading to Bridgestone becoming
5976-494: The 2010 Singapore Grand Prix . The 2022 edition set a new attendance record at the circuit for the weekend, with a reported 419,114 attendees, including 128,294 on race day; these figures made the 2022 Grand Prix the highest attended Grand Prix ever held in Melbourne and one of the most popular sporting weekends in Australian history. The 2023 edition, which saw Max Verstappen win his maiden Australian Grand Prix, would break
6142-403: The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix , where Jules Bianchi collided with a recovery vehicle after aquaplaning off the circuit, dying nine months later from his injuries. Since 1994, three track marshals have died, one at the 2000 Italian Grand Prix , one at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix and one at the 2013 Canadian Grand Prix . Since Senna's and Ratzenberger's deaths, the FIA has used safety as
6308-425: The 2017 and 2018 seasons featured a title battle between Mercedes and Ferrari. Mercedes ultimately won the titles with multiple races to spare and continued to dominate in the next two years, eventually winning seven consecutive Drivers' Championships from 2014 to 2020 and eight consecutive Constructors' titles from 2014 to 2021. During this eight-year period between 2014 and 2021, a Mercedes driver won 111 of
6474-502: The 2022 Australian Grand Prix generated an estimated $ 92 million of direct spending in the Victorian economy and boosted Victoria's Gross State Product by an estimated $ 171 million, with the Grand Prix also credited for driving up hotel occupancy and stimulating patronage for hospitality businesses. This mirrors a 2011 EY report commissioned by Tourism Victoria, which found international exposure and tourism spending stemming from hosting
6640-578: The 2023 and 2024 British Grands Prix , which both drew 480,000 attendees. The move of the Australian Grand Prix to Melbourne saw a change in the time of year that the F1 teams and personnel made their annual voyage to Australia. Adelaide, for each of its 11 years, was the final race of the F1 season, usually in October or November, while Melbourne has been the first race of the season in 22 of
6806-659: The Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne , with the exceptions of 2020 and 2021, when the races were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Before that, it was held in Adelaide . While an event called the Australian Grand Prix was staged in 1927 at the grass surface Goulburn Racecourse held as a series of sprints, it is generally accepted that the Australian Grand Prix began as the 100 Miles Road Race held at
Australian Grand Prix - Misplaced Pages Continue
6972-545: The Alfa Romeo name, Sauber introduced a title partnership with the online casino Stake.com , resulting in the team's new identity as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber . Sauber will hold Stake's sponsorship name until the end of 2025, after which it will become the Audi works team for the 2026 season onwards. Scuderia AlphaTauri , Red Bull's junior team, dropped its name and took on sponsors from Hugo Boss and Cash App, becoming Visa Cash App RB, or VCARB for 2024. Formula One announced
7138-481: The Benetton up on two wheels and into the tyre barrier, Schumacher retiring on the spot. Hill came out of the incident with a broken wishbone on his front-left suspension, he pitted and retired from the race, handing the title to Schumacher. The sister Williams of the 41-year-old Nigel Mansell went on to win the race, becoming the oldest Grand Prix winner since Jack Brabham in 1970. In 1995 , Mika Häkkinen suffered
7304-587: The Boxing Day Test , the Australian Grand Prix Corporation does not release precise crowd figures for the Australian Grand Prix, citing security concerns; in responding to a freedom of information request, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation stated in 2022 that it believes that crowd figures are sensitive from a security and safety perspective, and disclosing it has the potential to affect the security of Victoria by assisting
7470-604: The Formula Pacific (later rebadged as Formula Mondial ) category and importing Formula One drivers to race the locals in fields almost entirely made up of Ralt RT4s. Brazilian Roberto Moreno dominated this era, winning three of the four races, ceding only the 1982 race to future four-time World Champion Alain Prost . Jane's attempt to bring the World Championship to Calder Park ultimately failed, as did
7636-628: The Grand Prix , who took the victory from the McLarens of Kevin Magnussen and Button, both of whom were promoted due to the disqualification of Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull post race for illegal fuel flow. 2015 saw Hamilton take the victory from teammate Rosberg, with Vettel completing the top three. In 2020 , it was planned to hold the Grand Prix despite the coronavirus epidemic in
7802-500: The Grand Prix Manufacturers Association (GPMA), the manufacturers negotiated a larger share of Formula One's commercial profit and a greater say in the running of the sport. In 2008 and 2009, Honda , BMW , and Toyota all withdrew from Formula One racing within a year, blaming the economic recession . This resulted in the end of manufacturer dominance of the sport. The Honda F1 team went through
7968-710: The Imperial Tobacco 's Gold Leaf livery at the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix . Aerodynamic downforce slowly gained importance in car design with the appearance of aerofoils during the 1968 season. The wings were introduced by Lotus's owner Colin Chapman who installed modest front wings and a rear spoiler on his Lotus 49 B at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix . In the late 1970s, Lotus introduced ground-effect aerodynamics, previously used on Jim Hall 's Chaparral 2J in 1970, that provided enormous downforce and greatly increased cornering speeds. The aerodynamic forces pressing
8134-531: The Jaguar Racing team, new manufacturer-owned teams entered Formula One for the first time since Alfa Romeo's and Renault's departures in 1985. By 2006, the manufacturer teams—Renault, BMW , Toyota , Honda, and Ferrari—dominated the championship, taking five of the first six places in the Constructors' Championship. The exception was McLaren, which at the time was part-owned by Mercedes-Benz. Through
8300-504: The Ligier – Renaults of Frenchmen Jacques Laffite and Philippe Streiff who actually collided at the hairpin at the end of Brabham Straight with only one lap to go when Streiff tried a passing move that resulted in his car suffering broken suspension, though not bad enough to cause retirement. Three time World Champion Austrian Niki Lauda drove his last Formula One race at this event. After starting 16th in his McLaren , he made his way to
8466-551: The Phillip Island road circuit in 1928. The inaugural race was won by Arthur Waite in what was effectively an entry supported by the Austin Motor Company , a modified Austin 7 . For eight years, races, first called the Australian Grand Prix in 1929 , continued on the rectangular dirt road circuit. Bugattis dominated the results, taking four consecutive wins from 1929 to 1932. The last Phillip Island race
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#17327760697338632-505: The World Manufacturers' Championship ( 1925 – 1930 ) and European Drivers' Championship ( 1931 – 1939 ). The formula is a set of rules that all participants' cars must follow. Formula One was a formula agreed upon in 1946 to officially become effective in 1947 . The first Grand Prix in accordance with the new regulations was the 1946 Turin Grand Prix , anticipating the formula's official start. Before World War II ,
8798-415: The "Save Albert Park" group, which claimed that the race turned a public park into a private playground for one week per year. Additionally, they claimed that the race cost a great deal of money that would be better spent, if it were to be spent on motor racing, on a permanent circuit elsewhere. Finally, they said that the claimed economic benefits of the race were false or exaggerated. The race organisers and
8964-409: The 'sprint shootout'; such a system made its debut at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and is set to be used throughout all sprint sessions in place of the traditional second free practice session. Sprint qualifying sessions are run much shorter than traditional qualifying, and each session required teams to fit new tyres - mediums for SQ1 and SQ2, and softs for SQ3 - otherwise they cannot participate in
9130-585: The 160 races, with Hamilton winning 81 of these and taking six Drivers' Championships during this period to equal Schumacher's record of seven titles. In 2021 , the Honda-powered Red Bull team began to seriously challenge Mercedes, with Verstappen beating Hamilton to the Drivers' Championship after a season-long battle that saw the pair exchange the championship lead multiple times. This era has seen an increase in car manufacturer presence in
9296-434: The 2008 race which had three safety car periods and only six finishers. In 2009 Jenson Button took the victory, driving for debutant team Brawn GP , which was having its first race after Ross Brawn had bought the team following Honda 's withdrawal from Formula One. The team was formed from the remnants of Honda Racing F1 who had withdrawn from the sport following the 2008 season. The race ended with Button, who had led from
9462-538: The 2010 season ahead of a much anticipated 'cost-cap'. Entrants included a reborn Team Lotus —led by a Malaysian consortium including Tony Fernandes , the boss of Air Asia ; Hispania Racing —the first Spanish Formula One team; and Virgin Racing — Richard Branson 's entry into the series following a successful partnership with Brawn the year before. They were also joined by the US F1 Team , which planned to run out of
9628-561: The 2010 season, Mercedes-Benz reentered the sport as a manufacturer after it purchased Brawn GP and split with McLaren after 15 seasons with the team. During the 2009 season, Formula One was gripped by the FIA–FOTA dispute . FIA President Max Mosley proposed numerous cost-cutting measures for the next season, including an optional budget cap for the teams; teams electing to take the budget cap would be granted greater technical freedom, adjustable front and rear wings, and an engine not subject to
9794-473: The 2023 Grand Prix alone costing Victorian taxpayers $ 100.6 million to host. The 2019 event generated $ 55 million in revenue but cost $ 115.2 million to stage, the 2022 event generated $ 75.1 million in revenue but cost $ 153.2 million to stage, and the 2023 event generated $ 96.9 million in revenue but cost $ 197.6 million to stage. Following the move of the Australian Grand Prix to Melbourne, spectator attendance peaked at 452,055 in 2024, but has never reached that of
9960-714: The 27 times it has hosted the Grand Prix. As such, the Albert Park circuit has seen the Formula One debuts of many drivers. 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve made his race debut in Melbourne's first year of 1996, and became one of three men to secure pole position in his maiden Grand Prix. Other prominent names to debut in Melbourne are seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (2007), three-time World Champion Max Verstappen (2015), two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso and one-time champion Kimi Räikkönen (both in 2001); former Australian F1 driver, Mark Webber , also made his debut there in 2002. As part of celebrations for
10126-430: The Australian Grand Prix centres around the event's economic impact for the state of Victoria; proponents of the event claim that the event increases tourism, creates jobs and generates millions of dollars for the state of Victoria, while opponents dispute the event's economic benefits and cite the cost on taxpayers to host the event, as well as the disruptions generated by the event. In 2014, the Victorian government claimed
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#173277606973310292-441: The Australian Grand Prix made losses of $ 59.97 million in 2014, $ 61.7 million in 2015, $ 61 million in 2016 and $ 57.1 million in 2017. Over the decade preceding 2022, the Australian Grand Prix collectively cost Victorian taxpayers $ 537.5 million to host, with the 2019 Australian Grand Prix alone costing Victorian taxpayers $ 60.2 million to host, the 2022 Australian Grand Prix alone costing Victorian taxpayers $ 78.1 million to host, and
10458-474: The Australian Grand Prix. Official attendance numbers, which are inexact and have been challenged by the anti-Grand Prix lobby group Save Albert Park as gross overestimates, have been as follows: Drivers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season. A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship. As of the 2022 edition , four-time World Drivers' Champion Alain Prost remains
10624-711: The Brabham cars and eventually the Oldsmobile-based Repco V8s in the Tasman series gave Jack Brabham the opportunity to unexpectedly dominate Formula One in his Brabhams with a ready-proven lightweight car that left Ferrari and the British "garagistes" struggling with their heavy, technically fragile or underpowered cars until the appearance of the Lotus-Cosworth in 1967. The Formula One stars of
10790-457: The Brazilian's retirement. This effectively handing Prost his third Drivers' Championship; McLaren's appeal had not been decided yet, but with Senna failing to score, he was mathematically unable to catch Prost even if his Japanese Grand Prix victory stood, and it was not only overturned but Senna received a $ 100,000 fine and a six-month ban, both of which were rescinded. Boutsen won the race in
10956-472: The Drivers' Championship. Briton Nigel Mansell and Brazilian Nelson Piquet in Williams – Hondas and Frenchman Alain Prost , in a comparatively underpowered McLaren – TAG/Porsche , were competing for the drivers' title. Mansell needed only third to guarantee the title, whilst Prost and Piquet needed to win and for Mansell to finish fourth or lower to take the title. Finn Keke Rosberg led for 62 laps before
11122-525: The European winter, beginning a flood of Cooper-Climax Grand Prix machinery into Australia and New Zealand before Brabham started building his own cars , as well as the appearance of Lotus chassis as well, finally killing off the Australian "specials". With European Formula One restricted by the 1.5-litre regulations and big powerful 2.5-litre Australian cars were tremendously attractive to the European teams and when BRM Grand Prix team toured Australia during
11288-446: The F1 governing body announced a major rule and car design change intended to promote closer racing through the use of ground effects , new aerodynamics, larger wheels with low-profile tyres, and redesigned nose and wing regulations. Red Bull emerged as the dominant force after the rule shakeup. The 2022 and 2023 Constructors' and Drivers' Championships were won by Red Bull and Verstappen, with multiple races to spare. In 2023
11454-421: The FIA opened applications for new teams to enter Formula 1 in the then near future. Of the teams that applied, only Andretti were approved by the FIA, with them then being rejected by Formula One Management , though they have launched an appeal. In early 2024, the Formula One landscape underwent a significant change in the sphere of team sponsorships and collaborations. Having competed for five seasons under
11620-513: The Formula One World Championship was also the 50th AGP. The new 3.78 km Adelaide Street Circuit saw Brazilian Ayrton Senna on pole with a time of 1:19.843 in his Lotus – Renault . The race itself was a battle between Senna and Finland's Keke Rosberg driving a Williams – Honda for the last time. Run in oppressively hot conditions, the last race of the 1985 season ran to its 2-hour time limit, though all scheduled 82 laps were run. Rosberg ultimately prevailed finishing 43 seconds in front of
11786-516: The Formula One World Championship. Formula One Formula One , commonly known as Formula 1 or F1 , is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the world's premier forms of racing since its inaugural running in 1950 . The word formula in
11952-426: The Grand Prix generated between $ 32.04 million and $ 39.34 million for Victoria's Gross State Product during the period in which the Grand Prix was held, while also generating between 351 and 411 full-time equivalent jobs. According to an Economic Impact Assessment conducted by EY, the 2023 Australian Grand Prix contributed an estimated $ 268 million to the Victorian economy, including $ 144 million in direct expenditure and
12118-415: The Grand Prix three times, McLaren twice, Clark twice, the second was his last major victory before his untimely death, winning a highly entertaining battle with Chris Amon at the 1968 Australian Grand Prix at Sandown Raceway . Graham Hill won the 1966 race, with Amon winning the final Tasman formulae race in 1969 leading home Ferrari teammate Derek Bell for a dominant 1–2 at Lakeside Raceway . By
12284-560: The Kennett government to make Melbourne the host of the event. After the government of Jeff Kennett spent an undisclosed amount, it was announced on 17 December 1993 (less than a week after the South Australian election ) that the race would be shifted to a rebuilt Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne . The race moved to Melbourne in 1996. The decision to hold the race there was controversial. A series of protests were organised by
12450-475: The Red Bull, with Hamilton second and Vitaly Petrov third for Lotus . This was the first ever podium for a Russian Formula One driver . 2012 saw Button win for the third time in four years at the circuit. 2013 saw a surprise victory with Raikkonen in the Lotus winning from Alonso and Vettel. The reintroduction of V6 turbo hybrid engines for 2014 saw a dominant performance from Mercedes 's Nico Rosberg at
12616-650: The UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Promoters held non-championship Formula One events for many years. Due to the increasing cost of competition, the last of these was held in 1983. This era featured teams managed by road-car manufacturers, such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati . The first seasons featured prewar cars like Alfa Romeo's 158 , which were front-engined , with narrow tyres and 1.5-litre supercharged or 4.5-litre naturally aspirated engines. The 1952 and 1953 seasons were run to Formula Two regulations, for smaller, less powerful cars, due to concerns over
12782-524: The United Kingdom on 13 May 1950. Giuseppe Farina , competing for Alfa Romeo , won the first Drivers' World Championship, narrowly defeating his teammate Juan Manuel Fangio . Fangio won the championship in 1951 , 1954 , 1955 , 1956 , and 1957 . This set the record for the most World Championships won by a single driver, a record that stood for 46 years until Michael Schumacher won his sixth championship in 2003. A Constructors' Championship
12948-557: The United States as the only non-European-based team in the sport. Financial issues befell the squad before they even made the grid. Despite the entry of these new teams, the proposed cost-cap was repealed and these teams—which did not have the budgets of the midfield and top-order teams—ran around at the back of the field until they collapsed; HRT in 2012, Caterham (formerly Lotus) in 2014 and Manor (formerly Virgin, then Marussia), having survived falling into administration in 2014, at
13114-444: The annual economic impact of hosting the Australian Grand Prix was between $ 32 million and $ 39 million, with the event generating significant economic, social and cultural benefits including job creation, industry development, inward investment and tourism, while opponents of the event claimed that the event cost Victorian taxpayers over $ 50 million to host. According to a 2022 economic impact assessment conducted by Ernst & Young ,
13280-406: The average annual cost of running a team—designing, building, and maintaining cars, pay, transport—at approximately £220,000,000 (or $ 265,000,000), Formula One's financial and political battles are widely reported. The Formula One Group is owned by Liberty Media , which acquired it in 2017 from private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners for £6.4 billion ($ 8 billion). Formula One originated from
13446-815: The ban on driver aids was in name only, as they "proved difficult to police effectively". The teams signed a second Concorde Agreement in 1992 and a third in 1997. On the track, the McLaren and Williams teams dominated the 1980s and 1990s. Brabham was also competitive during the early 1980s, winning two Drivers' Championships with Nelson Piquet . Powered by Porsche , Honda , and Mercedes-Benz , McLaren won 16 championships (seven constructors' and nine drivers') in that period, while Williams used engines from Ford , Honda, and Renault to also win 16 titles (nine constructors' and seven drivers'). The rivalry between racers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost became F1's central focus during 1988 and continued until Prost retired at
13612-455: The best organised Grand Prix of the year in its first two years (1996 and 1997). It took just three corners for the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park to gain worldwide attention. On the first lap of the first race in 1996, Jordan's Martin Brundle was launched into the air in an enormous accident. Footage of the crash, and Brundle's subsequent rush back to the pits to take the spare car for
13778-636: The buy-out of the Renault team by Genii Capital investors. But a link with its previous owners still survived, with its car continuing to be powered by a Renault engine until 2014. McLaren also announced that it was to reacquire the shares in its team from Mercedes-Benz (McLaren's partnership with Mercedes was reported to have started to sour with the McLaren Mercedes SLR road car project and tough F1 championships, which included McLaren being found guilty of spying on Ferrari ). Hence, during
13944-486: The car after Suzuka; he did not compete in this race. The Drivers' Championship had already been decided in Senna's favour; but the Constructors' Championship was still yet to be decided between McLaren and Williams. Senna's victory plus his teammate Gerhard Berger's third gave McLaren its fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship; Williams (which was behind McLaren in points) drivers Mansell finished second (but crashed near
14110-403: The cars to the track were up to five times the car's weight. As a result, extremely stiff springs were needed to maintain a constant ride height , leaving the suspension virtually solid. This meant that the drivers depended entirely on the tyres for any small amount of cushioning of the car and driver from irregularities of the road surface. Beginning in the 1970s, Bernie Ecclestone rearranged
14276-574: The contract period and will host a minimum of five season-opening races over the 13 years between 2023 and 2035. From 2023, Formula 2 and Formula 3 races will form part of the race weekend schedule. A further two-year extension was signed in December 2022, ensuring that the race would remain in Melbourne until 2037. After a two-year absence as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian Grand Prix returned in 2022. Unlike previous years, when it
14442-534: The country . Ferrari and AlphaTauri as teams based in Italy, the most coronavirus-infected country in Europe at the time, expressed concern about the possibility of leaving the quarantine zone. One of McLaren's mechanics got flu-like symptoms when he arrived in Australia, his coronavirus test returned positive and the British team withdrew from the race. Later, a photographer was also confirmed to have coronavirus. It
14608-479: The creation of 1,149 full-time equivalent jobs, with $ 128 million of direct investment contributed by 81,000 international and interstate visitors who attended the event. However, a cost-benefit analysis of the Australian Grand Prix done for the Auditor-General in 2005 revealed a net economic loss for Victoria, with the estimated costs of the event exceeding the benefits to Victorian taxpayers by 5 per cent,
14774-444: The deal with Melbourne that would see the Victorian capital host the Australian Grand Prix from 1996. It was thought that Melbourne's unsuccessful quest to stage the 1996 Olympic Games, and the subsequently successful bid by northern rival city Sydney to host the 2000 Summer Olympics , was a driving force behind Melbourne's motivation to wrest the Australian Grand Prix away from Adelaide. The Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide in 1985–1995
14940-456: The dearth of Formula One cars. When a new Formula One formula for engines limited to 2.5 litres was reinstated for the 1954 world championship, Mercedes-Benz introduced its W196 , which featured things never seen on Formula One cars before, such as desmodromic valves , fuel injection , and enclosed streamlined bodywork. Mercedes drivers won the championship for the next two years, before the team withdrew from all motorsport competitions due to
15106-479: The dominance of the local scene by Group C touring cars towards the latter part of the 1970s saw Formula 5000 gradually fall out of favour. By 1980, the decision to replace was once again imminent; however, the form of Alan Jones in Formula One saw entrepreneur Bob Jane seize an opportunity to bring Formula One back as the Grand Prix Formula. The 1980 event held at Jane's Calder Park Raceway saw
15272-409: The end of 1993 . Senna died at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix after crashing into a wall on the exit of the notorious curve Tamburello . The FIA worked to improve the sport's safety standards since that weekend, during which Roland Ratzenberger also died in an accident during Saturday qualifying. No driver died of injuries sustained on the track at the wheel of a Formula One car for 20 years until
15438-541: The end of 2006 after 16 years in Formula One, but came out of retirement for the 2010 season, racing for the newly formed Mercedes works team, following the rebrand of Brawn GP . During this period, FIA frequently changed the championship rules with the intention of improving the on-track action and cutting costs. Team orders , legal since the championship started during 1950, were banned during 2002, after several incidents in which teams openly manipulated race results, generating negative publicity, most famously by Ferrari at
15604-439: The end of 2016. A major rule shakeup in 2014 saw the 2.4-litre naturally aspirated V8 engines replaced by 1.6-litre turbocharged hybrid power units. This prompted Honda to return to the sport in 2015 as the championship's fourth power unit manufacturer. Mercedes emerged as the dominant force after the rule shakeup, with Lewis Hamilton winning the championship closely followed by his main rival and teammate, Nico Rosberg , with
15770-490: The end of qualifying. Grid penalties can be applied for driving infractions in the previous or current Grand Prix, or for changing a gearbox or engine component. If a car fails scrutineering, the driver will be excluded from qualifying but will be allowed to start the race from the back of the grid at the race stewards' discretion. 2021 saw the trialling of a 'sprint qualifying' race on the Saturday of three race weekends, with
15936-580: The end of the decade, European teams were increasingly reluctant to commit to the Tasman Series in the face of longer home seasons, but also having to develop 2.5-litre versions of their 3.0 litre F1 engines. Local Tasman cars were declining as well and after originally opting a 2.0 litre version of Tasman to be the future of the Australian Grand Prix, the overwhelming support for the already well established Formula 5000 saw natural selection force Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) ' hand. For
16102-530: The entrance to the permanent race course because of gearbox problems. The race then turned into a dead-heat sprint between Nelson Piquet in his Benetton - Ford and Nigel Mansell in his Ferrari. Mansell charged through the field and repeatedly broke the lap record in pursuit of his former Williams teammate. This almost ended in disaster when the Ferrari almost hit the Benetton at the end of the Brabham Straight in
16268-576: The era all visited the Tasman Series, including World Champions Jim Clark , John Surtees , Phil Hill , Jackie Stewart , Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt , while other F1 regulars Timmy Mayer , Pedro Rodriguez , Piers Courage , leading teams from Cooper, Lotus, Lola, BRM, even the four wheel drive Ferguson P99 and finally, Ferrari , racing against the local stars, Jack Brabham , Bruce McLaren , Denny Hulme , Chris Amon , Frank Gardner , Frank Matich , Leo Geoghegan and Kevin Bartlett . Brabham won
16434-486: The event was contested for championship points for the first time, and was known as the Melbourne 400 . The 2021 event was originally scheduled to open the season in March, but moved to November due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and travel disruptions, then cancelled on 6 July. It was also going through several changes to make the track faster. An issue that is frequently debated amongst both supporters and opponents of
16600-466: The fastest getting first place on the grid, referred to as pole position . From 1996 to 2002, the format was a one-hour shootout. This approach lasted until the end of 2002 before the rules were changed again because the teams were not running in the early part of the session to take advantage of better track conditions later on. Grids were generally limited to 26 cars – if the race had more entries, qualification would also decide which drivers would start
16766-511: The fastest time in Q1 will not be allowed to start the race without permission from the stewards. Otherwise, all drivers proceed to the race albeit in the worst starting positions. This rule does not affect drivers in Q2 or Q3. In Q2, the 15 remaining drivers have 15 minutes to set one of the ten fastest times and proceed to the next period. Finally, Q3 lasts 12 minutes and sees the remaining ten drivers decide
16932-447: The fence, behind which Beveridge was standing; Beveridge was hit by a tyre that flew off of Villeneuve's car. The start of the 2002 race saw pole-sitter Barrichello and Williams's Ralf Schumacher come together at Turn One in a spectacular accident that saw 11 of the 22 cars eliminated before the end of the opening lap. Michael Schumacher dominated thereafter to post a third straight Melbourne win, but his achievements were overshadowed by
17098-445: The field from 11th and 13th on the grid respectively to join pole sitter Fisichella on the podium. In 2006, Alonso took his first Australian win in an accident-marred race that featured four safety car periods. In 2007 Kimi Räikkönen won in his first race for Ferrari, while rookie Lewis Hamilton became the first driver in 11 years to finish on the podium in his F1 debut, finishing third behind his McLaren teammate Alonso. Hamilton won
17264-434: The fifth place of Australian Mark Webber on his Formula One debut. Webber, in an underpowered and underfunded Minardi , had to recover from a botched late pit stop and resist the challenges of Toyota's Mika Salo in the closing stages, and took to the podium after the race with Australian team owner Paul Stoddart in one of Melbourne's more memorable Grand Prix moments. The next year, 2003, saw Coulthard again win for McLaren in
17430-628: The first half of the 1970s, the Tasman Series continued as a local series primarily for Formula 5000 racers, but by 1976, the Australian and New Zealand legs fractured apart and the Australian Grand Prix separated from the remnants and became a stand-alone race once more. During this era, the former Tasman stars, Matich, Geoghegan and Bartlett would continue on as a new generation of drivers emerged, some like Garrie Cooper ( Elfin ) and Graham McRae developing their own cars while others like Max Stewart , John McCormack and Alfredo Costanzo using European-built cars, mostly Lolas . Matich won two Grands Prix
17596-489: The first ten grid positions. At the beginning of the 2016 Formula 1 season, the FIA introduced a new qualifying format, whereby drivers were knocked out every 90 seconds after a certain amount of time had passed in each session. The aim was to mix up grid positions for the race, but due to unpopularity, the FIA reverted to the above qualifying format for the Chinese GP, after running the format for only two races. Each car
17762-508: The first time racing cars thundered around the streets surrounding the Albert Park Lake in inner Melbourne . That circuit, which for four brief years gave Australia the strongest taste of the grandeur surrounding European Grand Prix racing, was 40 years later very much modified, used to host the 1996 Australian Grand Prix as the modern Formula One world championship venue. Jack Brabham took his first of three AGP wins in 1955 at
17928-405: The following year when he headed a dominant Ferrari 1–2 with new teammate Rubens Barrichello . The 2001 event, also won by Michael Schumacher, was marked by tragedy when 52-year-old volunteer marshal Graham Beveridge was killed after a high-speed accident involving Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve on lap five. Villeneuve's B.A.R. rode up across the back of Schumacher's Williams and crashed into
18094-530: The government claimed that the economic benefits to the state, although unquantifiable, outweighed the costs, and highlighted that the park's public amenities have been greatly improved from the World War II vintage facilities previously located at Albert Park; the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (scene of many Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games events) being the centre piece and best known of
18260-475: The intention of testing the new approach to qualifying. The traditional qualifying would determine the starting order for the sprint, and the result of the sprint would then determine the start order for the Grand Prix. The system returned for the 2022 season, now titled the 'sprint'. From 2023, sprint races no longer impacted the start order for the main race, which would be determined by traditional qualifying. Sprints would have their own qualifying session, titled
18426-609: The last Adelaide race in 1995. In 2009, higher unemployment and a snap public transport strike were cited by Victorian Premier John Brumby as a reason for a slight drop in crowds. Attendance numbers improved in 2010 to an estimate of 305,000 – the largest since the 2005 race. In contrast to other major sporting events in Australia such as the AFL Grand Final , the Melbourne Cup , the Australian Open and
18592-450: The last race of the season held on the street circuit in Adelaide . The Adelaide Street Circuit , which held its last Formula One race in 1995 , was known as a challenging, demanding and tricky circuit that often produced races of attrition, and the whole event was very popular with drivers, teams and fans. Whenever the teams came to Adelaide they enjoyed the party atmosphere. The first ever Australian Grand Prix to be included as part of
18758-400: The late Senna, was on pole but a poor start resulted in the two championship rivals Hill and Schumacher battling for the lead. But on lap 36, Schumacher went off the track, a result of oversteer, and this allowed Hill to catch up with Schumacher and take the inside line for the next corner. Schumacher turned in on Hill's Williams (whether on purpose or accidentally remains unknown) which sent
18924-399: The lead by lap 57, but a lack of brakes cause him to crash into a wall in a sad end to his Formula One career. Australia had its own driver in the race with 1980 World Champion Alan Jones driving a Lola – Hart . Jones, who started 19th, stalled at the start but fought his way to sixth by lap 20 before retiring later in the lap with electrical failure. The 1986 event was a three-way race for
19090-564: The line first. 1987 saw Gerhard Berger win in his Ferrari while Ayrton Senna finished second but was then disqualified for technical irregularities in his last race for Lotus; Berger's teammate Michele Alboreto was then moved up to second place to make the final result a Ferrari 1–2. 1988 , the last Grand Prix of the turbo era, saw Alain Prost win his seventh race of the season from McLaren teammate and newly crowned World Champion Ayrton Senna with outgoing champion Nelson Piquet third for Lotus, giving Honda turbo's all three podium positions. The race
19256-402: The magnificent Maybach -based series of specials driven exuberantly by Stan Jones would give many hope for the next few years. Lex Davison , who for several years would experiment with sports car engines in smaller Formula 2 chassis, took his first of four victories in a Jaguar engined Formula 2 HWM in 1954 , while the previous year Whiteford won his third and final Grand Prix as for
19422-510: The management of Formula One's commercial rights; he is widely credited with transforming the sport into the multibillion-dollar business it now is. When Ecclestone bought the Brabham team during 1971, he gained a seat on the Formula One Constructors' Association , and in 1978, he became its president. Previously, the circuit owners controlled the income of the teams and negotiated with each individually; Ecclestone persuaded
19588-509: The most powerful open-wheel circuit racing cars ever. To reduce engine power output and thus speeds, the FIA limited fuel tank capacity in 1984 , and boost pressures in 1988 , before banning turbocharged engines completely in 1989 . The development of electronic driver aids began in the 1980s. Lotus began to develop a system of active suspension , which first appeared during 1983 on the Lotus 92 . By 1987, this system had been perfected and
19754-403: The most successful constructor with fourteen victories. Teams in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season. A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship. Manufacturers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season. A pink background indicates an event which was not part of
19920-439: The name refers to the set of rules all participants' cars must follow. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix . Grands Prix take place in multiple countries and continents on either purpose-built circuits or closed roads. A point-system is used at Grands Prix to determine two annual World Championships: one for the drivers , and one for the constructors (the teams). Each driver must hold
20086-558: The only driver to win the race in both World Championship and domestic formats. Prost won the Australian Drivers' Championship 1982 race, driving a Formula Pacific Ralt RT4 , before winning in Adelaide in 1986 and 1988 in Formula One. Australian driver Lex Davison and German driver Michael Schumacher are the most successful drivers in the 86-year history of the event taking four wins each, while Ferrari has been
20252-680: The operational system of possible threat actors. Following an August 2023 freedom-of-information ruling by the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner which stated that that disclosure was important for “transparency and accountability”, in September 2024, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation went to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to fight an order to reveal how it counts crowds for
20418-404: The pit crews time to clear themselves and their equipment from the grid for the race start. Stan Jones (racing driver) Stanley Jones (16 March 1923 – 16 March 1973) was an Australian racing driver. Today better known as father of 1980 World Drivers' Champion Alan Jones , Stan was a prominent racing driver himself, racing mainly in the 1950s. He is one of eleven drivers to have won
20584-459: The pit lane wall moved two metres closer to the circuit so that the edge of the circuit sat directly next to the wall. The 2022 Grand Prix saw Ferrari's Charles Leclerc achieve his first career grand slam , having started in pole position , set the fastest lap , led every lap, and won the race ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Pérez and Mercedes' George Russell . It was the first grand slam for an individual Ferrari driver since Fernando Alonso 's at
20750-474: The psychological dominance F1 had exuded over the Brazilian meant that he was known to take chances that most other drivers would not. Going down the Brabham straight on lap 13, Senna came up behind Briton Martin Brundle's Brabham-Judd, and Brundle decided to move over to let Senna pass. But Senna was blinded by thick spray; and the Brazilian did not lift off, causing him to hit the back of Brundle's car, tearing off his front left wheel and suspension and resulting in
20916-426: The race on Sunday. Each driver may use no more than thirteen sets of dry-weather tyres, four sets of intermediate tyres, and three sets of wet-weather tyres during a race weekend. For much of the sport's history, qualifying sessions differed little from practice sessions; drivers would have one or more sessions in which to set their fastest time, with the grid order determined by each driver's best single lap, with
21082-445: The race's end at the chicane after the pits) and Riccardo Patrese finished fifth. This race held the record of being the shortest ever Formula One race as it only lasted 52 kilometres (33 miles)/24 minutes. It would eventually be surpassed by the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix , which lasted three laps, but was classified after only one official lap. Triple World Champion Nelson Piquet, who finished fifth, retired from Grand Prix racing following
21248-477: The race. 1992 saw Senna drive very hard to try to stay with new world champion Mansell's dominant Williams; this ended in Senna running into the back of Mansell at the last corner. Mansell retired from Formula One and went to compete in CART in the United States; Senna's teammate Gerhard Berger won the race. 1993 saw Senna win what was to be his 41st and final victory and final race for McLaren ahead of Alain Prost, who
21414-461: The race. During the early 1990s, the number of entries was so high that the worst-performing teams had to enter a pre-qualifying session, with the fastest cars allowed through to the main qualifying session. The qualifying format began to change in the early 2000s, with the FIA experimenting with limiting the number of laps, determining the aggregate time over two sessions, and allowing each driver only one qualifying lap. The current qualifying system
21580-413: The race. The circuit was still being hammered by rain and was covered by water, but the drivers, including Prost relented and eventually they started. But an unconvinced Prost came in after one lap and withdrew; and Senna- who was still in an awful mental state from the previous race, immediately began driving as fast as he could. By the end of the first lap, due to Pierluigi Martini's slow Minardi holding up
21746-410: The races return to Mount Panorama in 1952 , the way to the future was pointed by Doug Whiteford racing a newly imported Talbot-Lago Formula One car to victory. Grand Prix machinery had already been filtering through in the shape of older Maserati and OSCAs and smaller Coopers but had yet to prove to be superior to the locally developed cars. The end of the Australian "specials" was coming, but
21912-623: The rationing of fuel and tyres. Mount Panorama held the first post-war Grand Prix in 1947 , beginning a rotational system between the Australian States, as fostered by the Australian Automobile Association . A mixture of stripped-down production sports cars and Australian "specials" were to take victories as the race travelled amongst temporary converted airfield circuits and street circuits like Point Cook , Leyburn , Nuriootpa and Narrogin before, on
22078-454: The record with 444,631 attendees, and would also break a Formula One record; the race, which ended with twelve cars left running, is the first ever to have three red flags throughout the session. This came after a chaotic race that saw many incidents; the Formula 2 and Formula 3 races, held the same weekend, had a similar outcome. The 2024 Australian Grand Prix , won by Carlos Sainz Jr. ,
22244-484: The restart, ensured the first race in Melbourne gained widespread coverage. The race was won by Williams's Damon Hill . The 1997 race saw McLaren , through David Coulthard , break a drought of 50 races without a victory. The next year was a McLaren benefit, with Mika Häkkinen and Coulthard lapping the entire field en route to a dominant 1–2 finish. The result was clouded by controversy when Coulthard pulled over with two laps remaining to allow Häkkinen to win, honouring
22410-421: The results of the race. 2010 again saw Button win at Melbourne. Starting from fourth, he gambled on an early change to slick tires under drying conditions that let him move up to second place after losing several positions at the start. Sebastian Vettel retired with mechanical issues after qualifying on pole and leading until his retirement, handing Button the victory. The 2011 race saw Vettel take victory in
22576-625: The revitalised facilities. Opponents of holding the race in the park point out that the Aquatic Centre adds nothing to the Grand Prix, is effectively closed for weeks surrounding the event and could have been built independent of the car race. Bernie Ecclestone , the then president of Formula One Management , the group that runs modern-day Formula One in conjunction with the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile ( FIA ), once famously said that it took 10 minutes to do
22742-449: The road but after political discussions was disqualified for cutting the chicane before the pit straight at Suzuka; the repercussions of which dawned on the race. McLaren had decided to appeal Senna's disqualification; so Senna still had a chance of winning the championship. The race was delayed for sometime and there were discussions about whether the race should be started. Senna qualified on pole position, and had every intention of starting
22908-459: The session. The race begins with a warm-up lap, after which the cars assemble on the starting grid in the order they qualified. This lap is often referred to as the formation lap, as the cars lap in formation with no overtaking (although a driver who makes a mistake may regain lost ground). The warm-up lap allows drivers to check the condition of the track and their car, gives the tyres a chance to warm up to increase traction and grip, and also gives
23074-556: The short Port Wakefield Circuit in South Australia . The race is significant in that Brabham was driving a Bristol powered Cooper T40 , the first ever rear-engine car to win the Grand Prix. The Grand Prix returned to Albert Park in 1956 , the year when Melbourne hosted the Summer Olympics , to play host to a group of visiting European teams, led by Stirling Moss and the factory Maserati racing team who brought
23240-406: The sole tyre supplier to Formula One for the 2007 season by default. On 20 December 2007 Bridgestone signed a contract that officially made it the exclusive tyre supplier for the next three seasons. During 2006, Max Mosley outlined a 'green' future for Formula One, in which efficient use of energy would be an important factor. Starting in 2000, with Ford's purchase of Stewart Grand Prix to form
23406-487: The sport . Team Gunston became the first team to run cigarette sponsorship on its Brabham cars, which privately entered in orange, brown and gold colours of Gunston cigarettes in the 1968 South African Grand Prix on 1 January 1968. Five months later, the first works team , Lotus, initially using the British racing green , followed this example when it entered its cars painted in the red, gold, and white colours of
23572-663: The sport. After Honda's return as an engine manufacturer in 2015, Renault came back as a team in 2016 after buying back the Lotus F1 team. In 2018, Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo became Red Bull and Sauber's title sponsors, respectively. Sauber was rebranded as Alfa Romeo Racing for the 2019 season, while Racing Point part-owner Lawrence Stroll bought a stake in Aston Martin to rebrand the Racing Point team as Aston Martin for 2021. In August 2020, all ten F1 teams signed
23738-550: The start, leading the field over the line after the safety car had been deployed with three laps remaining following a crash between Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica , who had been fighting for second place. This promoted Button's teammate, fellow Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello, to second, marking a historic 1-2 for the team. Toyota's Jarno Trulli was given a 25-second penalty for passing Lewis Hamilton for third place under yellow flags during that safety car period, which promoted Hamilton into that position. However, Hamilton
23904-637: The summer of 1962, the seed grew that became the Tasman Series . The top European Formula One teams and drivers raced the European winters in Australia and New Zealand from 1963 to 1969 playing host to a golden age for racing in the region for which the Australian Grand Prix (and the New Zealand Grand Prix ) became jewels of the summer. The popularity of the Tasman formulae was directly responsible for 1966's "return to power" in Formula One, and having spent years developing with Repco
24070-536: The team winning 16 out of the 19 races that season. The team continued this form in the next two seasons, again winning 16 races in 2015 before taking a record 19 wins in 2016 , with Hamilton claiming the title in the former year and Rosberg winning it in the latter by five points. The 2016 season also saw a new team, Haas , join the grid, while Max Verstappen became the youngest-ever race winner at age 18 in Spain . After revised aerodynamic regulations were introduced,
24236-452: The teams reached an agreement to prevent a breakaway series. It was agreed teams must cut spending to the level of the early 1990s within two years; exact figures were not specified, and Max Mosley agreed he would not stand for reelection to the FIA presidency in October. Following further disagreements, after Mosley suggested he would stand for reelection, FOTA made it clear that breakaway plans were still being pursued. On 8 July, FOTA issued
24402-600: The teams to "hunt as a pack" through FOCA. He offered Formula One to circuit owners as a package they could take or leave. In return for the package, almost all that was required was to surrender trackside advertising. The formation of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) in 1979 set off the FISA–FOCA war , during which FISA and its president Jean-Marie Balestre argued repeatedly with FOCA over television revenues and technical regulations. The Guardian said that Ecclestone and Max Mosley "used [FOCA] to wage
24568-672: The technological advances of the 1990s, the cost of competing in Formula One increased dramatically, thus increasing financial burdens. This, combined with the dominance of four teams (largely funded by big car manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz), caused the poorer independent teams to struggle not only to remain competitive but to stay in business. This effectively forced several teams to withdraw. Michael Schumacher and Ferrari won five consecutive Drivers' Championships (2000–2004) and six consecutive Constructors' Championships (1999–2004). Schumacher set many new records, including those for Grand Prix wins (91, since beaten by Lewis Hamilton ), wins in
24734-567: The tenth running of the event at Albert Park in 2005, Webber drove his Williams F1 car over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a promotional event, and the Melbourne city streets hosted a parade of F1 machinery and Supercars , Australia's highest-profile domestic motor sport category. For over thirty years, Supercars have competed in the Supercars Challenge non-championship event at the Australian Grand Prix. In 2018 ,
24900-478: The track as well. Drivers from McLaren , Williams , Renault (formerly Benetton ), and Ferrari , dubbed the "Big Four", won every World Championship from 1984 to 2008 . The teams won every Constructors' Championship from 1979 to 2008 , as well as placing themselves as the top four teams in the Constructors' Championship in every season between 1989 and 1997 , and winning every race but one (the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix ) between 1988 and 1997 . Due to
25066-468: The two faster Williams cars of Belgian Thierry Boutsen and Italian Riccardo Patrese , Senna was an astonishing nine seconds ahead of Martini; the Williams cars soon passed Martini but by the end of the third lap, Senna was 23 seconds ahead of second-placed Boutsen. Yet even with such a huge lead which he extended even further, Senna continued to push very hard- taking very daring chances even for himself;
25232-463: The unimproved conditions, with the race called after it reached the two-hour time limit. 1990 was the 500th World Championship Grand Prix ever held; and it came after yet more controversial events at Suzuka. Senna had crashed into Prost at the very first corner on the first lap of the race; and he won the Drivers' Championship for the second time. The Australian Grand Prix that year was an incredibly exciting race: Senna led for 61 laps, but crashed near
25398-571: The violently veering car and steered it to a safe stop. Prost took the lead, as Mansell's teammate Piquet had pitted as a pre-cautionary measure, and the Frenchman won the race and the championship. Prost had to fight back after a mid-race puncture, and stopped soon after the finish so as not to waste fuel, something he had done at every race he finished since his disqualification from the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix for being underweight after his McLaren ran out of fuel on his slow down lap after crossing
25564-425: The wake behind the car turbulent or 'dirty'. This prevented other cars from following closely due to their dependence on 'clean' air to make the car stick to the track. The grooved tyres also had the unfortunate side effect of initially being of a harder compound to be able to hold the grooved tread blocks, which resulted in spectacular accidents in times of aerodynamic grip failure, as the harder compound could not grip
25730-532: Was added in the 1958 season . Stirling Moss , despite being regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers in the 1950s and 1960s, never won the Formula One championship. Between 1955 and 1961, Moss finished second in the championship four times and third the other three times. Fangio won 24 of the 52 races he entered—still the record for the highest Formula One winning percentage by an individual driver. National championships existed in South Africa and
25896-525: Was adopted in the 2006 season. Known as "knock-out" qualifying, it is split into three periods, known as Q1, Q2, and Q3. In each period, drivers run qualifying laps to attempt to advance to the next period, with the slowest drivers being "knocked out" of qualification (but not necessarily the race) at the end of the period and their grid positions set within the rearmost five based on their best lap times. Drivers are allowed as many laps as they wish within each period. After each period, all times are reset, and only
26062-589: Was also the 15th win and 15th pole in 16 races in a season of total dominance for McLaren-Honda, a domination not seen before or since in Formula One. 1989 was hit by a deluge of rain and the drivers, notably Prost, did not want to start the race because of the very wet conditions, particularly on the Brabham straight. This event came after controversial events 2 weeks before at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, where Prost had crashed into his hated teammate Senna, and Senna got going again and finished 1st on
26228-418: Was always the last event in the Formula One calendar – but from 1996 onwards, it has usually been the first event or was held early in the season. Albert Park, within easy reach of the Melbourne central business district, became home to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. A 16-turn circuit, which measures 5.3 km (3.3 mi) in its current guise, it was built utilising a combination of public roads and
26394-401: Was announced that the Grand Prix would still take place, but without spectators, however two hours before the first practice started the event was cancelled. In June 2022, Melbourne's contract to host the Australian Grand Prix, which was due to expire in 2025, was extended to 2035. The new contract stipulates that the Australian Grand Prix will be one of the first three rounds of the season over
26560-559: Was competing in his final Formula One race in a Williams before he too retired. Senna embraced his once extremely bitter rival Prost on the podium. It was announced around this time that the Australian Grand Prix would be moving to Melbourne for 1996. The 1994 was to see yet another memorable weekend. Following his win at the Japanese Grand Prix , Damon Hill was now one point behind championship leader Michael Schumacher . Nigel Mansell , returning to Formula One in place of
26726-545: Was driven to victory by Ayrton Senna in the Monaco Grand Prix that year. In the early 1990s, other teams followed suit and semi-automatic gearboxes and traction control were a natural progression. The FIA, due to complaints that technology was determining races' outcomes more than driver skill, banned many such aids for the 1994 season. This resulted in cars that previously depended on electronic aids becoming very "twitchy" and difficult to drive. Observers felt
26892-431: Was in 1935 and the title lapsed for three years. An AGP style event was held on Boxing Day, 1936 at the South Australian town of Victor Harbor for a centennial South Australian Grand Prix before the Australian Grand Prix title was revived in 1938 for the grand opening of what would become one of the world's most famous race tracks, Mount Panorama just outside the semi-rural town of Bathurst . Only just completed, with
27058-435: Was later disqualified and docked his points for "deliberately misleading stewards", with Trulli reinstated in third. The results earned by Brawn , Williams , and Toyota were awarded, despite an appeal being held two weeks later against a ruling on the legality of the teams' diffuser design. The outcome of the appeal was in favour of the teams, their diffusers were declared legal under the new rules and there were no changes to
27224-417: Was notable for breaking numerous attendance records. The event sold out for the first time in its history, and set a new attendance record at the circuit for the weekend with 452,055 spectators, making it the most attended sporting event ever in Melbourne , and the fourth highest attended Formula One Grand Prix of all time, following the 1995 edition of the race , held in Adelaide , with 520,000 attendees, and
27390-525: Was still disgusted and angry did not wish to appear in the photos with Senna following their controversial first corner crash in the previous race in Japan which gave the 1990 World Championship to Senna. The 1991 race was notable for being held in extremely wet and tricky conditions and the race was eventually stopped after 14 of the scheduled 82 laps and Ayrton Senna was declared the winner. Prost had been fired from Ferrari for making unsavory comments about
27556-441: Was the opening event of the season, the 2022 Australian Grand Prix was instead the third event of the season. In the months before the Grand Prix, in consultation with drivers, the circuit underwent several significant revisions, which were the first and most significant changes since the inaugural 1996 Australian Grand Prix , including the first track resurfacing since then. Turns 9 and 10 were completely redesigned; where they formed
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