In March 2023, I was luckily enough to attend my first F1 Grand Prix, the Australian GP, after some spontaneous flight booking, and then a nerve wracking Ticketmaster battle for tickets. And it was one of the best experiences of my life. For anyone considering going, and wondering if it is in fact worth it, I am here to tell you to book those tickets because you won’t regret it. BUT do make sure you plan ahead to get the best out of your experience.
After being born and raised in an avid motorsport family (think attending my first speedway race at a month old, and from then on spending every weekend either at the track, or with dirt bikes in tow), I didn’t develop much of an interest in Formula 1 until 2019 following the release of Drive to Survive. I guess that makes me a controversial DTS “fan”. However, being an F1 fan in New Zealand, does not occur without serious commitment and sacrifice. Monday at 1am is the equivalent to most fans Sunday at 3pm. As the Melbourne GP is the only race down under, it became a running joke between myself and an equally F1 obsessed fan from NZ (shout out Izzy), that we would “just go to Melbourne”.
Picture this:
It was a random Tuesday in August ’22 when all of a sudden the Aus GP shared an instagram reel, revealing the unofficial dates of the 2023 Grand Prix. This led to an absolute spam of messages which I rapidly fired at Izzy, including the likes of “should we go? … these seem like good dates … flights are still kinda cheap … do I just book?”. Within days I had booked us return flights, and paid a deposit on an airbnb for the week (this is what happens when you have a TYPE A friend). We were officially going to Melbourne. Although… we did not yet have Grand Prix tickets.
Following the F1 2023 calendar being confirmed by the FIA, tickets then went on sale a whole 3 months later. It felt like forever, but we were fortunately kept entertained by all the drama of the F1 silly season.
After seeing all the chaos that had ensued in the USA with Ticketmaster x Taylor Swift, I must admit I was feeling a little uneasy. But as I reminded myself, this was Formula 1, and there was 22 other races a year – so surely it’d be okay. After extensive research I was aiming for 4-day tickets to the Brabham Grandstand, with the Jones Grandstand as a backup and honestly once I decided on those, I did next to no research on any others. Whoops. My mistake.
It was when the queue opened, and there was over 20,000 people ahead of me that I panicked. By the time I made it through to the front of the queue there were NO Brabham or Jones seats available, and I had to quickly decide what I was going to do. At the time, I decided that the next most expensive grandstand must be alright, and opted for 4-day Fangio Grandstand passes. In hindsight, I could have looked at splitting the days between different grandstands, as you could still get thurs, fri, and sat passes for Brabham just not Sunday, or 4-day. But we got tickets, and the Fangio Grandstand is located opposite the pit lane and finish line, we were still so excited!
All that was left to do was wait around for 4 more months and save some money.
When the time came around, it didn’t really feel real. Like yeah we flew out to Melbourne, but from NZ, Australia is hardly any international travel. But upon first glance, the city was cool, it seemed young, and hip, and the public transport was incredible – trams!!! We spent a week in Melbourne, with 4 of those days spent at the track. See my other blog post, for what we got up to in and around Melbourne!
Thursday 30th March 2023
Our first day at the track! For us, the focus for Thursday was the Melbourne Walk. We didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into but we’d been seeing a lot of tiktoks building hype around this. Gates opened at the track at 9:30am, and we arrived around 8:15am after taking the free tram from the city centre. Honestly, we were a lot closer to the front of the queue than we expected, and the people at the very front had been queuing as early as 4am.
Let me warn you about a few things regarding the Melbourne Walk;
1) it is not a walk for attendees, it is a mad dash, a full on sprint
2) it was a lot further than I expected??? my best guess would be somewhere between 800m to 1km (I should’ve trained)
3) the staff and security say no running, but they have cameras out filming the chaos, running is encouraged
Although we had absolutely no idea where we needed to get to for the Melbourne Walk, we followed the mass crowd, running across fields, up stairs and across an overpass, to find where we needed to be. Even after only speed walking the last couple of hundred meters, we ended up in the second/third row from the barrier. We were stoked.
Across the next few hours, we got up close photos of most F1 drivers, we got selfies with Yuki and Esteban, as well as many F2 and F3 drivers such as Theo Pourchaire, Ollie Bearman and Jack Doohan. I got my Mclaren #3 cap signed by Lando (I’d been hoping for Daniel), and my phone case signed by Mick! We left the Melbourne Walk area sometime around 12:30 after waiting for ages, really needing the toilet, and some water, and unfortunately for us that is when Red Bull finally made there entrance. RIP me and my hopes for Daniel’s signature. After this we wandered around the circuit, watched some supercars, and looked at some different grandstands for the afternoon.
Tips for the Melbourne Walk
- Be prepared to run
- Bring a full bottle of water (even though it says empty only, security doesn’t check), as well as snacks
- Bring all your merch, and multiple sharpies!! I have a Ferrari cap that I genuinely would cry if Charles signed it, however I didn’t think to wear it that day.
- Bring a powerbank, and ensure you have plenty of phone storage free
Friday 31st March 2023
Friday we decided to head to Albert Park a bit later as F2 and F3 practices were the only things taking place in the morning, but this meant we got stuck in huge queues for the trams. The queue at Southern Cross Station stretched blocks, so we started walking towards Albert Park (it would be a 40min -1hr walk), when we came across a free bus running from the Crown Hotel. We got there just in time to watch F1 FP1, and then got to watch F3 Quali, F2 Quali, and Supercars Races. The wide range of support classes ended up being a highlight of the experience, it was really cool to watch the junior drivers and see the upcoming talent. The weather in Melbourne provided us with 4 seasons in one day, and we got absolutely soaked while watching the F2 quail but it was awesome to see them driving in the in the rain.
Saturday 1st April 2023
From the moment we arrived on Saturday you knew it was race weekend. The circuit was a lot busier, and there were constant queues for anything and everything. We spent the morning looking around the F2 and F3 garages, watching them practice pit stops and work on the cars. This was a cool addition that the AUS GP had in 2023. Then we had the F2 sprint race, followed by F1 quali. The grandstands were packed, and the atmosphere was amazing.
Sunday 2nd April 2023
It was finally race day. After all the waiting, all the money spent, the time had come. We left for Albert Park early, as we weren’t sure how busy the trams would be and how long it would take to get to the circuit. However, they were well prepared and organised, it was a smooth process, even with record breaking daily attendance. The F2 and F3 feature races were a great way to start building the excitement and anticipation. It was so cool to see such young drivers out there performing at such a high level. It was then time to pee, and refill water bottles before the drivers parade. As the grandstands packed out to capacity and the cars lined up on the grid (right in front of us may I add), the circuit really came to life. AND THE RACE – IT WAS UTTER MADNESS. Even for those watching from home, no one could forget the absolute chaos and insanity that was the AUS GP 2023. And there’s no way I can even explain how crazy and vibrant the atmosphere around that track was. From mexican waves, to the audible chanting of “one more lap”, the crowd was alive and full of passion.
Following that madness, the track invasion, in which immediately after the race, fans (including us) swarmed the track racing towards the podium for a glimpse, was the best possible way to end the weekend. (Side note: some fans were spotted on the track while the cars were still on track under the safety car, this was horrifying behaviour, and incredibly dangerous. I am absolutely not endorsing this behaviour, but do recommend the track invasion when following FIA and Marshall guidlines.)
We jumped barriers to exit the grandstand then raced through the fences, before we made it to a perfect podium view! (Well as close as someone without a pit lane pass could get) As the sun was setting, and the F1 cars glowed in the light, there was a gentle buzz, thousands of fans who’d all come together for the same thing, who had all had the most incredible weekend. It was an unforgettable moment. The hours it took to leave the circuit, were at the time awful, but looking back, I don’t really remember this, as there were too many fantastic experiences and memories made to remember.
If you are looking for a sign to attend an F1 GP, this is it. This is me telling you to just book those flights, book those tickets because you won’t regret it. As I write this, I am beginning to put plans in place to (hopefully) attend the 2024 Aus GP.
~ Nikitas Nomadic Notes
Nikita’s Nomadic Notes 