Five F1 season-opener slots for Australian GP

The Australian Grand Prix Corporation and Formula 1 today announced an early extension of their arrangement that will see Melbourne continue as a host city until at least 2035.

As part of the new deal the revamped Albert Park circuit will open the Formula 1 season a minimum of five times.

The AGP will be the season-opener in 2024 and 2025 and then another three, yet-to-be-determined times in the decade that follows.

The 2023 AGP date is yet to be locked in, however this announcement is a clear indication that the first round will be elsewhere.

Melbourne will still be at the pointy end of the schedule, though, with a slot inside the first three races likely each year of the new agreement.

"One of the things that happens is that, it's difficult enough [for us] to juggle four days of activity at Albert Park; Formula 1 has to juggle 23 races on a calendar," said AGPC CEO Andrew Westacott.

"At the start of the season, taking into account Ramadan, taking into account Easter, taking into account other scheduling constraints, five races to headline the start of the season in Melbourne is a great result. And that's the guaranteed minimum.

"What we're going to find is that over the course of that time, we're going to be either Race 1, Race 2 or Race 3, very early in the season.

"It's a great outcome. We saw 419,000 people here as the estimated attendance for 2022. We see that continuing."

Mechanics on the grid with the cars prior to the start

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Australia has long been the traditional season start for Formula 1, however this year, following its due year, pandemic-induced absence, it was pushed back to the third round.

That had little effect on crowds with near-record numbers filing through the