2023 Australian Grand Prix: how to watch, schedule, who's going to win?

Melbourne is this weekend staging its 26th Australian Grand Prix, and the third round of the 2023 Formula 1 Championship.

The event is officially a sell-out for the second consecutive year following the 2020 and 2021 Covid-enforced cancellations.

All the motorsport activities again take place on the Albert Park street circuit that’s sandwiched between the Melbourne CBD and St Kilda Beach and has staged F1 since 1996.

Jump Ahead

• How to watch
• On-track schedule
• Who's going to win?

Catch up on F1

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On-track action is boosted in 2023 with debuts for the lower-tier Formula 2 and Formula 3 championships – single-seater categories that feature the next generation of budding F1 stars.

With the highly popular Daniel Ricciardo moving into a third-driver role with Red Bull this season, home-favourite status switches to new McLaren recruit Oscar Piastri.

Here’s your quick guide to how to watch, when to watch, and who to watch.

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How to watch

General admission tickets and grandstand seats are all sold out, so the next best spot is your grand sofa.

Network 10 is providing free live coverage via channel 10 and 10 Play, as follows:

Kayo Sports (subscription required) is showing live coverage of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix action as follows:

When to watch (on-track schedule)

Who to watch (and who will win the Australian GP?)

Young Aussie Oscar Piastri will no doubt be cheered on enthusiastically by local fans, though McLaren’s form in the first two races of 2023 suggest neither him nor his British team-mate Lando Norris have much chance of winning the 2023 Australian Grand Prix.

The utter dominance of the Red Bull team in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia makes Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez the clear favourites for victory at Albert Park. Neither driver has won in Australia previously.

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The Red Bull drivers are split by just a single point in the driver’s championship going into the weekend.

Aston Martin is expected to continue its great start to the season, so keep an eye on double-world champion Fernando Alonso who’s currently third in the championship and clearly relishing his most competitive car in years.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will also have hopes of getting onto the podium, though just a single spot is likely to be up for grabs if the Red Bulls stay out of trouble and don’t suffer any reliability issues.