Rating: +3
I flew to Melbourne last week to watch the 2026 f1 season opener in person, so here is my review of how it was run, and what they could improve on next time. The track was busiest for qualifying and race day, and most people caught the tram or walked to/from the city each day, as parking was a nightmare.
For qualifying, we managed to get in and out fast as we arrived just in time and left before everyone else, leaving a window for us to get on the tram and back into the city before it went nuts. Race day was where it all went downhill though. As once the race was over, they let ticketholders invade the track; watching the podium ceremony if you were fast enough and getting an opportunity to see and stand where the cars just were.
Although it was fun, this track invasion was a disaster. People were climbing fences to take signs and ripping stickers off the fence, desperate to take a part of the place home and fighting over what things they wanted for their garage, then piling up trying to get out. Once the chaos on the actual track waned, we were then met with hell on earth trying to get out at the main gate (number one) thanks to poor organisation and lack of communication around transport. There needs to be much better communication around trams especially (even my Melbourne-based relatives got lost), and better access to all of the other gates to make exit easier.
The race was great; organisation around seating was fantastic and there were plenty of (very crowded) cool free activities for people to do. If they sorted out the transport and entrance/exit, it would be much easier, but either way I’ll probably be back next year.
