Your Ultimate Guide to the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix

Welcome to the biggest motorsport event in the world, held in Melbourne!

Every year, 44,000 excited fans gather at Albert Park to watch the hottest motorsport event of the year held in Melbourne: The Grand Prix.

This year’s Grand Prix final is on Sunday 16th March 2025

Spread across 4 days every year, the Melbourne Grand Prix is so much more than a racing event. With plenty to see off-track and on-track, the Grand Prix is a sporting event that has become integral to Melbourne’s culture. The event has been held in Albert Park since 1996, so this year marks the 29th anniversary. Formula One has signed on to a further 10 years in Melbourne, so it won’t be leaving Victoria anytime soon!

The whole weekend is packed full of events, races, music and food – but Saturday will be the biggest day for the Grand Prix.

What normally happens at the Grand Prix?

A lot happens in four days at the Grand Prix! Here’s how the weekend normally goes, from Thursday to Sunday.

Thursday: 

There is a ‘pit walk’ on Thursday. A pit walk is where the crowds walk around the track before any races begin. This allows fans to see the drivers, teams and cars up close. It’s a meet-and-greet kind of setup, where fans might even get an autograph from their favourite drivers.

If you’re keen to skip the big crowds of people, then get yourself an F1 Experience Starter Package. This grants you access to the track minus the crowds – you can walk around the track on an exclusive tour when it’s a lot quieter.

Friday:

On the Friday, there are normally two 90-minute sessions of practising. The first one (FP1) will be the opener. This will be the first time the cars have driven around the track since the year before. While the first drive is timed, it’s not really about the race. It’s about getting back into the track for the first time, loosening up for the rest of the races, and gaining data for the mechanic engineering team.

The second practice is FP2, and it’s an important session. It’s held at 4 pm – so that it gives an idea of tomorrow’s track temperature when the race is held at the same time.

Saturday:

In total, there are 6 hours of racing across the Saturday. This is the qualifying day – so it’s a big day!

In the morning, there is a 60-minute practice session, before the big race. This allows the drivers and their teams some time to make any final tweaks. Then, it’s time for the qualifying.

The qualifying is split into three different sections. These are Q1, Q2, and Q3. The five slowest drivers from Q1 and Q2 are dropped out, leaving a final ten drivers. These remaining ten drivers enter the final race on Sunday.

Sunday:

The Sunday race begins at 3 pm. There are 58 laps in this race, which equates to 305km. The drivers are all given 2 hours to complete the race.

The fastest driver to ever complete the Australian Grand Prix was Charles Leclerc in 2024, who completed the race in just 1 hour 19 minutes!

Off-track events

This year, there is live music at the Crown Lakeside Festival which runs alongside the F1 event. Every night from Friday to Sunday there will be live music. Tones and I performs on the Saturday while FatBoy Slim is taking the headline spot on Sunday,

There are countless hospitality vendors scattered around each precinct. Expect a range of basic to high-end culinary offerings to keep you fed and hydrated while you’re at the event. The whole site will be split up into precincts, and this year there is a newly built grandstand to accommodate larger capacities.

How to get to the Grand Prix

There is no public parking at Albert Park, so the best way to get to the Grand Prix is public transport. Luckily Melbourne has good transport links to Albert Park… There are plenty of ways to get to Albert Park via public transport. Depending on which gate you’re trying to get to at Albert Park, there are different transport links available.

Accessing gates 1,2, and 3?  Southern Cross is a good station to travel from.

For gates 5, 8, 9 and 10, it’s recommended that you go from Flinders St Station.

PT Victoria is making room for the influx of crowds: Yarra Trams have added an extra 4800 tram services, and they are operating a new shuttle service that runs between Flinders St and Southern Cross Stations.

Cameron Ward

Managing Director at Sightseeing Tours Australia

Cameron Ward began with a passion for travel and turned it into a thriving tourism business. He co-founded Sightseeing Tours Australia after starting out as a tour guide in Melbourne. Cameron delights in helping visitors get the most from their trip to Australia. Whether he's leading tours or writing about his favourite places, Cameron loves sharing his local insight with fellow travellers.