F1 extends Melbourne contract

The sun is setting, the boats are on the lake and F1 is racing around the Albert Park lake. This is the Melbourne GP at its finest, and will continue to be for at least another five years as Australians get to enjoy the pinnacle of motorsport in their own backyard.

Extending its contract with Melbourne by two years, Formula 1 has confirmed the twilight racing event will continue to be hosted in Victoria until 2025.

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Melbourne will also continue to host the opening round of the F1 championship next year from March 12-15, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the sport and the 25th time Australia has had modern F1 cars racing on home soil.

Adelaide hosted the Australian Grand Prix from 1985 to 1995 before it moved to Albert Park in 1996, holding the opening round in all its history except for 2006 and 2010 that both belong to Bahrain.

Victorian Minister for tourism, sport and major events, Martin Pakula MP, said Victoria was better than anywhere else in the world to hold such a major event.

“Victoria hosts major events better than anywhere else in the world and I’m excited that Formula 1 has chosen to exercise its option to extend the contract and enable the Victorian Government and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) to continue to deliver more world-class events for Victoria,” he said.

A sign of confidence, F1 says that in the past three years more than 900,000 ticket holders have attended the Melbourne GP. Chairman and CEO of Formula 1, Chase Carey, added that the future for Melbourne to continue hosting the even looks positive.

“We are pleased to have renewed our partnership with the city of Melbourne, which will now host the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix until at least 2025,” he said.

“The decision to extend the current relationship for a further two years stems from the fact