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The Australian Grand Prix
is a Formula One race that is part of the annual FIA Formula One World Championship. It is held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit at Albert Park in Melbourne. Prior to its inclusion in the World Championship it was held annually from 1928 to 1984 at various venues in Australia. It was a centrepiece of the Tasman Series from 1964 to 1969 and again in 1972 and was a round of the Australian Drivers' Championship in a number of years from 1957 to 1983. It becoming part of the Formula One World Championship in 1985 and was held at the Adelaide Street Circuit in Adelaide, South Australia from that year to 1995, before moving to Melbourne in 1996.
The Australian Grand Prix is the first round of the Championship, having been the first race of each year, excluding 2006, since the event moved to Melbourne. During its years in Adelaide, the Australian Grand Prix was the final round of the Championship, replacing the Portuguese Grand Prix in that respect. As the final round of the season, the Grand Prix hosted a handful of memorable Grand Prix, most notably the 1986 and 1994 event which saw those respective titles decided.
Lex Davison and Michael Schumacher are the most successful drivers in the 81 year history of the event each taking four victories each while Ferrari and McLaren have been the most successful constructors with ten victories each, their success stretching well back into the pre-Formula One history of the race. Rubens Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella are the only drivers to have started every single race since it returned to the inner Melbourne street circuit, which was used previously in the 1950s.
In November 2006 investment company ING became the naming rights sponsor of the Australian Grand Prix in a three-year deal.
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AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX TICKETS
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History
Pre-war
While an event called the Australian Grand Prix is believed to have been held in 1927 near Sydney, it is generally held that the Australian Grand Prix began as the
100 Miles Road Race held at the original
Phillip Island road circuit in 1928.
[1] The original race was won by
Arthur Waite in what was effectively an entry supported by the
Austin Motor Company driving a modified
Austin 7 using the handicapped start to beat many faster, more powerful cars to the finish. For eight years handicap races, first called the Australian Grand Prix in
1929, continued on the rectangular dirt road circuit. This was the era of the Australian 'special', mechanical concoctions of disparate chassis and engine that were every bit as capable as the Grand Prix machines imported from Europe. For all the ingenuity of the early Australian mechanic-racers
Bugattis dominated the results, taking four consecutive wins from 1929-1932. The last Phillip Island race was in 1935 and the title lapsed for three years. An AGP style event was held on
Boxing Day, 1936 at the South Australian town of
Victor Harbor for a centennial South Australian Grand Prix
[2] before the Australian Grand Prix title was revived in
1938 for the grand opening of what would become one of the world's most famous race tracks,
Mount Panorama just outside of the semi-rural town of
Bathurst. Only just completed, with a tar seal for the circuit still a year away, the race was won by Englishman
Peter Whitehead racing a new
voiturette ERA B-Type that was just too fast for the locally developed machinery
[3]. One more race was held at a giant South Australian road circuit near the town of
Lobethal in
1939 before the country was plunged into
World War II.
Post-war
In the immediate post-war era racing was sparse with competitors using pre-war cars with supplies cobbled together around the rationing of fuel and tyres. Mount Panorama held the first post-war Grand Prix in
1947, beginning a rotational system fostered by the newly formed Australian governing body,
CAMS.
[4] A mixture of stripped-down production sports cars and Australian 'specials' were to take victories as the race travelled amongst temporary converted airfield circuits and street circuits like
Point Cook,
Leyburn,
Nuriootpa and
Narrogin before, on the races return to Mount Panorama in
1952, the way to the future was pointed by
Doug Whiteford racing a newly imported
Talbot-Lago Formula One car to victory. Grand Prix machinery had already been filtering through in the shape of older
Maserati and
OSCAs and smaller
Coopers but had yet to prove to be superior to the locally developed cars. The end of the Australian 'specials' was coming, but the magnificent
Maybach-based series of specials driven exuberantly by
Stan Jones would give many hope for the next few years.
Lex Davison, who for several years would experiment with sports car engines in smaller
Formula 2 chassis, took his first of four victories in a
Jaguar engined Formula 2
HWM in
1954, while the
previous year Whiteford won his third and final Grand Prix as for the first time racing cars thundered around the streets surrounding the
Albert Park Lake in inner
Melbourne. That circuit, which for four brief years gave Australia the strongest taste of the grandeur surrounding European Grand Prix racing, was 40 years later very much modified, used to host the
1996 Australian Grand Prix as the modern Formula One world championship venue. The Grand Prix returned to Albert Park in
1956, Melbourne's
Olympic Games year to play host to a group of visiting European teams, led by
Stirling Moss and the factory
Maserati racing team who brought a fleet of
250F Grand Prix cars and
300S sports racing cars. Moss won the Grand Prix from Maserati team mate
Jean Behra. That 1956 race would inspire the next great era of the Grand Prix.
[5]
Tasman Formula
The growing influence of engineer-drivers
Jack Brabham and a couple of years behind him New Zealander
Bruce McLaren would transform the race. Brabham, who first won the Grand Prix in
1955 in an obsolete sports-bodied Cooper T40 Bristol he had brought home from his first foray into English racing
[6], would test new developments for Cooper during the European winter, beginning a flood of Cooper-Climax Grand Prix machinery into Australia and New Zealand before Brabham started building his
own cars, as well as the appearance of Lotus chassis as well, finally killing off the Australian 'specials'. With European Formula One restricted by the 1.5 litre regulations and big powerful 2.5 litre Australian cars were tremendously attractive to the European teams and when
BRM Grand Prix team toured Australia during the summer of 1962, the seed grew that became the
Tasman Series.
The top European Formula One teams and drivers raced the European winters in Australia and New Zealand from
1963 to
1969 playing host to a golden age for racing in the region for which the Australian Grand Prix (and the New Zealand Grand Prix) became jewels of the summer. The popularity of the Tasman formulae was directly responsible for 1966s 'return to power' in Formula One, and having spent years developing with
Repco the Brabham cars and eventually the Oldsmobile based
Repco V8s in his Brabhams in the Tasman series gave Jack Brabham the opportunity to unexpectedly dominate Formula One with a ready-proven lightweight car that left Ferrari and the British 'garagistes' struggling with their heavy, technically fragile or underpowered cars until the appearance of the Lotus-Cosworth late in 1967.
The stars of the era all visited the Tasman Series,
Jim Clark,
John Surtees,
Timmy Mayer,
Phil Hill,
Jackie Stewart,
Graham Hill,
Jochen Rindt,
Pedro Rodriguez,
Piers Courage, leading teams from Cooper, Lotus, Lola, BRM, even the four wheel drive
Ferguson P99 and finally, Ferrari, racing against the local stars, Brabham, McLaren,
Denny Hulme,
Chris Amon,
Frank Gardner,
Frank Matich,
Leo Geoghegan and
Kevin Bartlett. Brabham won the Grand Prix three times, McLaren twice, Clark twice, the second was his last major victory before his untimely death, winning a highly entertaining battle with Chris Amon at the
1968 Australian Grand Prix at
Sandown Raceway.
Graham Hill won the
1966 race with Amon winning the final Tasman formulae race in
1969 leading home Ferrari team mate
Derek Bell for a dominant 1-2 at
Lakeside Raceway.
Formula 5000
By the end of the decade European teams were increasingly reluctant to commit to the Tasman Series in the face of longer home seasons, but also having to develop 2.5 litre versions of their 3.0 litre F1 engines. Local Tasman cars were declining as well and after originally opting a 2.0 litre version of Tasman to be the future of the Australia Grand Prix, the overwhelming support for the already well established
Formula 5000 saw natural selection force
CAMS' hand.
[7]
For the first half of the 70s, the Tasman Series continued purely as a local series for Formula 5000 racers, but by 1976 the Australian and New Zealand legs fractured apart and the Australian Grand Prix separated from the remnants and became a stand-alone race once more. During this era the former Tasman stars, Matich, Geoghegan and Bartlett would continue on as a new generation of drivers emerged, some like
Garrie Cooper (
Elfin) and
Graham McRae developing their own cars while others like
Max Stewart,
John McCormack and
Alfredo Costanzo using European built cars, mostly
Lolas. Matich won two Grand Prix is his own cars before Stewart and McRae each took a pair of wins. Towards the end of the 70s the race again became a home to returning European based antipodeans like
Alan Jones and
Larry Perkins with
Warwick Brown winning the 1977 race, while the previous year touring car racer
John Goss completed a remarkable double, becoming the first and only driver to win the Grand Prix and the
Bathurst 1000.
Calder Park
Declining economy and the dominance of the local scene by
Group C touring cars towards the latter part of the 70s saw Formula 5000 gradually fall out of favour. By 1980 the decision to replace was once again imminent however the form of
Alan Jones in Formula One saw entrepreneur
Bob Jane seize an opportunity to bring Formula One back as the Grand Prix Formula. The
1980 extravaganza held at Jane's
Calder Park Raceway saw a combined field of Formula One and Formula 5000 padded out with the Australised version of
Formula Atlantic cars, Formula Pacific.
[8] The newly crowned world champion, Jones swept the field aside in his
Williams-Cosworth but with only two F1 cars entering and the continuing disintegration of F5000 saw Jane concentrate the next four Grands Prix on the Formula Pacific (later rebadged as Formula Mondial
[9]) category and importing Formula One drivers to race the locals in fields almost entirely made up of
Ralt RT4s.
Roberto Moreno dominated this era winning three of the four races, ceding only the
1982 race to
Alain Prost. Jane's attempt to bring the World Championship to Calder Park ultimately failed as F1 would be tempted away by a far more attractive option.
[10]
Formula One
Australia became part of the F1 world championship in 1985 with the last race of the season held on the
street circuit in
Adelaide. The circuit, whilst not as tight as
Monaco, was notoriously tough on drivers and gearboxes. The
Adelaide Street Circuit, which held its last Formula One race in
1995, has often been stated as being one of, if not, the greatest street circuits in the world. Whenever the teams came to Adelaide they enjoyed the party atmosphere.
[11]
In 1993 prominent Melbourne businessman Mr
Ron Walker AC CBE, current
Chairman of the Australian Grand Prix began working with the then Kennett government to make Melbourne the host of the event. After the government of
Jeff Kennett spent an undisclosed (but speculated to be quite large) amount, it was announced in late 1993 (days after a South Australian election) that the race would be shifted to a rebuilt
Albert Park street circuit in
Melbourne. The race moved to Melbourne in 1996. The decision to hold the race there was controversial. A series of protests were organised by the "Save Albert Park" group, who claimed that the race turned a public park into a private playground for one week per year. Additionally, they claimed that the race cost a great deal of money that would be better spent, if it were to be spent on motor racing, on a permanent circuit elsewhere. Finally, they said that the claimed economic benefits of the race were false or exaggerated. The race organisers and the government claimed that the economic benefits to the state outweighed the costs, and highlighted that the park's public amenities have been greatly improved from the World War II vintage facilities previously located at Albert Park; the Melbourne Sports and Aquatc Centre (scene of many Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games events) being the centre piece and best known of the revitalised facilities.
The idea of a permanent racing circuit has never really been addressed, but there is much speculation that the real reason for a street circuit is to provide a distinctive backdrop for television - a permanent race circuit would be unidentifiable and, from the perspective of the Formula One organisers, may as well be held in Europe at much lesser cost and inconvenience to them. In any case, a substantial number of people do embrace (and attend) the race at the
Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit.
The Melbourne era
thumb
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Bernie Ecclestone, the president of Formula One Management, the group that runs modern-day Formula One in conjunction with the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), once famously said that it took 10 minutes to do the deal with Melbourne that would see the Victorian capital host the Australian Grand Prix from 1996. It is thought that Melbourne’s unsuccessful quest to stage the 1996 Olympic Games, and the subsequently successful bid by northern rival city Sydney to host the 2000 Olympics, was a driving force behind Melbourne’s motivation to wrest the Australian Grand Prix away from Adelaide.
Albert Park, within easy reach of the Melbourne central business district, became home to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. A 16-turn circuit, which measures 5.3 kilometres in its current guise, was built utilising a combination of public roads within the park. The circuit is renowned as being a smooth and high-speed test for Formula One teams and drivers, and its characteristics are similar to the only other street circuit set in a public park currently used for a race in the Formula One World Championship, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada.
The promotional theme for the first race in Melbourne was “Melbourne – What a Great Place for the Race”. Some 401,000 people turned out for the first race in 1996, which remains a record for the event. The logistics of creating a temporary circuit and hosting an event of the magnitude of a Formula One Grand Prix from scratch weren’t lost on the international visitors, with Melbourne winning the F1 Constructors’ Association Award for the best organised Grand Prix of the year in its first two years of 1996 and 1997.
The move of the Australian Grand Prix to Melbourne saw a change in the time of year that the F1 teams and personnel made their annual voyage Down Under. Adelaide, for each of its 11 years, was the final race of the F1 season, usually in October or November, while Melbourne has been the first race of the season in every year since 1996 with the exception of 2006, when it was the third race of the year to allow for the Commonwealth Games to take place in the city. As such, the Albert Park circuit has seen the Formula One debuts of many drivers in the last decade. 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve made his race debut in Melbourne’s first year of 1996, and became one of three men to secure pole position in his maiden Grand Prix. Other prominent names to debut in Melbourne are two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso and one-time champions Kimi Räikkönen (both in 2001) and Lewis Hamilton (2007), Australia’s only current F1 driver, Mark Webber, also made his debut there in 2002.
As part of celebrations for the 10th running of the event at Albert Park in 2005, Webber drove his Williams F1 car over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a promotional event, and the Melbourne city streets hosted a parade of F1 machinery and V8 Supercars, Australia’s highest-profile domestic motor sport category.
Races in Melbourne
It took just three corners for the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park to gain worldwide attention. On the first lap of the first race in
1996
, Jordan’s Martin Brundle was launched into the air in an enormous accident. Footage of the crash, and Brundle’s subsequent rush back to the pits to take the spare car for the re-start, ensured the first race in Melbourne gained widespread coverage. The race was won by Williams’ Damon Hill.
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The
1997
race saw McLaren, through David Coulthard, break a drought of 50 races without a victory. The next year was a McLaren benefit, with Mika Häkkinen and Coulthard lapping the entire field en route to a dominant 1-2 finish. The result was clouded by controversy when Coulthard pulled over with two laps remaining to allow Häkkinen to win, honouring a pre-race agreement between the pair that whoever made it to the first corner in the lead on lap one would be allowed to win.
Ferrari won its first Grand Prix in Melbourne in
1999
, but it wasn’t with team number one Michael Schumacher. Irishman Eddie Irvine took his maiden victory after the all-conquering McLarens of Häkkinen and Coulthard retired before half-distance. Schumacher broke his Melbourne drought the following year when he headed a dominant Ferrari 1-2 with new teammate Rubens Barrichello.
The
2001
event, won by Michael Schumacher, was marked by tragedy when volunteer marshal Graham Beveridge was killed after a high-speed accident involving Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve on lap five. Villeneuve’s B.A.R rode up across the back of Schumacher’s Williams and crashed into the fence, behind which Beveridge was standing.
The start of the
2002
race saw pole-sitter Barrichello and Williams’ Schumacher come together at Turn One in a spectacular accident that saw 11 of the 22 cars eliminated before the end of the opening lap. Michael Schumacher dominated thereafter to post a third straight Melbourne win, but his achievements were overshadowed by the fifth place of Australian Mark Webber on his Formula One debut. Webber, in an underpowered and underfunded Minardi, had to recover from a botched late pit stop and resist the challenges of Toyota’s Mika Salo in the closing stages, and took to the podium after the race with Australian team owner Paul Stoddart in one of Melbourne’s more memorable Grand Prix moments.
The next year,
2003
, saw Coulthard again win for McLaren in a race held in variable conditions. Normal service was resumed in
2004
with the Ferraris of Schumacher and Barrichello running rampant – within two laps of Friday practice, Schumacher had obliterated the Albert Park lap record, and sailed to a crushing win.
In
2005
, the race was won by Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella after a storm during Saturday qualifying produced a topsy-turvy grid. Barrichello and Fisichella’s teammate Fernando Alonso came through the field from 11th and 13th on the grid respectively to join pole-sitter Fisichella on the podium. In
2006
, Alonso took his first Australian win in an accident-marred race that featured four safety car periods.
In
2007
Kimi Räikkönen in his first race for Ferrari, while Lewis Hamilton became first driver in 11 years to finish on the podium in debut, as he was 3rd behind his team-mate Alonso. Hamilton won the
2008
which had three safety car periods. In
2009
Jenson Button took the victory, driving for Brawn GP, which was having first race after Ross Brawn had bought the team following Honda withdrawal from Formula One.
Notable Australian Grands Prix
;
1986:
Nigel Mansell and
Nelson Piquet in a
Williams-
Honda and
Alain Prost, in a comparatively underpowered
McLaren, were competing for the drivers' title. Mansell needed only third to guarantee the title, whilst Prost and Piquet needed to win and for Mansell to finish lower than third to take the title. Whilst comfortably in the top three with a few laps to go, Mansell's Williams suffered a spectacular mechanical failure, with a rear tyre puncture at very high speed near the end of the main straight creating a huge shower of sparks as the floor of the vehicle dragged along the bitumen surface. Mansell fought to control the violently veering car and steered it to a safe stop. Prost took the lead, as Mansell's teammate Piquet had pitted as a pre-cautionary measure, and won the race and the championship. Prost himself came incredibly close to failure, as his vehicle coasted to a halt on his victory lap, out of fuel.
;
1991: The race was notable for being held in extremely wet and tricky conditions and the race was eventually stopped on lap 14 of the scheduled 82 and
Ayrton Senna was declared the winner. This race has the record of the shortest ever Formula One race as it only lasted 52 kilometres/24 minutes.
;
1994: Following his win at the
Japanese Grand Prix,
Damon Hill was now one point behind championship leader
Michael Schumacher.
Nigel Mansell was on
pole but a poor start resulted in the two championship rivals Hill and Schumacher battling for the lead. But on lap 36, Schumacher went off the track, a result of oversteer, and this allowed Hill to catch up with Schumacher and take the inside line for the next corner. Schumacher turned in on Hill's
Williams (whether on purpose or accidentally remains unknown) which sent the
Benetton up on two wheels and into the tyre barrier, Schumacher retiring on the spot. Hill came out of the incident with a broken wishbone on his front-left suspension, he pitted and retired from the race, handing the title to Schumacher. The sister Williams of Nigel Mansell went onto win the race, becoming the oldest Grand Prix winner since Jack Brabham in 1970.
;
2001 : The 2001 race saw
Michael Schumacher take pole position and win the race and three drivers,
Fernando Alonso;
Kimi Räikkönen and
Juan Pablo Montoya, all made their Formula One debuts during this race. The race, however, was struck by tragedy in when a flying tyre from a crash between
Williams'
Ralf Schumacher and
BAR's Jacques Villeneuve flew through a gap in the barrier fence and killed a volunteer track marshal, Graham Beveridge, who was 52 years old.
;
2002 : The 2002 event saw the best performance by an Australian driver when
Mark Webber, in the perennially uncompetitive
Minardi, took advantage of the misfortune of other competitors, after a first lap pile up eliminated 9 cars, to finish an unlikely fifth, holding off a fast-closing
Mika Salo in a much faster
Toyota. He and the Australian-born team owner
Paul Stoddart became instant national celebrities well beyond the motor racing world, the minor placing receiving far more attention in Australia than
Michael Schumacher's win.
;
2008 : Lewis Hamilton won from pole in a chaotic race that featured 3 safety car periods. None of the six Ferrari powered cars made the finish in the blistering heat, and there were also the fewest number of finishers in a Formula One race since the
1996 Spanish Grand Prix.
;
2009 :
Jenson Button and
Rubens Barrichello scored a 1-2 finish for
Brawn GP in the team's début race. The team was formed from the remnants of
Honda Racing F1 who had withdrawn from the sport following the 2008 season. The race ended with Button, who had led from the start, leading the field over the line after the safety car had been deployed with 3 laps remaining following a crash between
Sebastian Vettel and
Robert Kubica, who had been fighting for 2nd.
Toyota's Jarno Trulli was given a 25 second penalty for passing Lewis Hamilton for 3rd place under yellow flags during that safety car period, which promoted Hamilton into that position. However, Hamilton was later disqualified and docked his points for "deliberately misleading stewards"
[12], with Trulli reinstated in third. The results earned by
Brawn,
Williams, and
Toyota were awarded, despite an appeal being held two weeks later against a ruling on the legality of the teams' diffuser design.
[13] The outcome of the appeal was in favour of the teams and that their diffusers were legal under the new rules and there were no changes to the results of the race.
Recent attendance
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An area of recent debate regarding the move of the Australian Grand Prix to
Melbourne is the dwindling crowd attendances. Crowd numbers have not peaked since the Melbourne record of 401,000 in 1996. This has resulted in many questioning whether the event is bringing the economic benefits first promised when it was announced Melbourne would host the race in 1993. A possible reason for the drop in attendance is that since the Grand Prix has moved to Melbourne, the race organisers have significantly decreased the number of support events at the Grand Prix. Instead of using the event to showcase Australian motor sport, many classes featured in the past have been replaced by celebrity and corporate sponsored events. For instance, while the Grand Prix Corporation has used the presence of Australian driver, Mark Webber, as an advertising draw card for the event, the class in which Mark first started coming to attention, Formula Ford, was dropped from the 2006 programme. Another factor possibly influencing the crowds in 2007 was the withdrawal of Australia's most popular domestic racing series,
V8 Supercar, a factor disputed by an attendance drop of just 500. In 2009,
the global financial crisis and higher unemployment was cited by
Victorian Premier
John Brumby as a reason for a slight drop in crowds.
[14]
- 2009 - 286,900
- 2008 - 303,000 [15]
- 2007 - 301,000 [16]
- 2006 - 301,500 [17]
- 2005 - 359,000 [18]
- 1996 - 401,000
Future
Beyond 2010, the Victorian Government announced that Melbourne would retain the Australian Grand Prix until at least 2015
[19]. The race starting time will be moved to 5pm in order to satisfy Bernie Ecclestone's ultimatum earlier this year, stating to the
Sunday Mail
that the only way Melbourne would retain the race is a move to a night race in order to increase European television audiences
. However the later start will not result in a 'night race' as Geoscience Australia has forecast dusk for 29th of March 2009 at 7:45pm
[20]
Sponsors
Mitsubishi Australian Grand Prix
1985
Foster's Australian Grand Prix
1986–1993
,
2002–2006
Adelaide Australian Grand Prix
1994
EDS Australian Grand Prix
1995
Transurban Australian Grand Prix
1996
Qantas Australian Grand Prix
1997–2001
ING Australian Grand Prix
2007-2009
Winners
Multiple winners (drivers)
Wins which did not count towards the Formula One World Championship are indicated by a pink background.
Number of wins
| Driver
| Years Won
|
4
| Lex Davison
| 1954, 1957, 1958, 1961
|
Michael Schumacher
| 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004
|
3
| Bill Thompson
| 1930, 1932, 1933
|
Doug Whiteford
| 1950, 1952, 1953
|
Jack Brabham
| 1955, 1963, 1964
|
Graham McRae
| 1972, 1973, 1978
|
Roberto Moreno
| 1981, 1983, 1984
|
Alain Prost
| 1982,
| 1986, 1988
|
2
| Les Murphy
| 1935, 1937
|
Bruce McLaren
| 1962, 1965
|
Frank Matich
| 1970, 1971
|
Max Stewart
| 1974, 1975
|
Gerhard Berger
| 1987, 1992
|
Ayrton Senna
| 1991, 1993
|
Damon Hill
| 1995, 1996
|
David Coulthard
| 1997, 2003
|
Multiple winners (constructors)
Embolded constructors are still competing in the Formula One championship
Number of wins
| Constructor
| Years Won
|
10
| Ferrari
| 1957, 1958, 1969, 1987, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007
|
McLaren
| 1970, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2008
|
6
| Williams
| 1980, 1985, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1996
|
5
| Cooper
| 1955, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965
|
4
| Bugatti
| 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932
|
MG
| 1935, 1937, 1939, 1947
|
Lola
| 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979
|
Ralt
| 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
|
2
| Talbot-Lago
| 1952, 1953
|
Maserati
| 1956, 1959
|
Brabham
| 1963, 1964
|
BRM
| 1966, 1967
|
Matich
| 1971, 1976
|
McRae
| 1973, 1978
|
Renault
| 2005, 2006
|
By year
Events which were not part of the Formula One World Championship are indicated by a pink background.
Year
| Driver
| Constructor
| Location
| Report
|
2009
| Jenson Button
| Brawn-Mercedes
| Melbourne
| Report
|
2008
| Lewis Hamilton
| McLaren-Mercedes
| Melbourne
| Report
|
2007
| Kimi Räikkönen
| Ferrari
| Melbourne
| Report
|
2006
| Fernando Alonso
| Renault
| Melbourne
| Report
|
2005
| Giancarlo Fisichella
| Renault
| Melbourne
| Report
|
2004
| Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
| Melbourne
| Report
|
2003
| David Coulthard
| McLaren-Mercedes
| Melbourne
| Report
|
2002
| Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
| Melbourne
| Report
|
2001
| Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
| Melbourne
| Report
|
2000
| Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
| Melbourne
| Report
|
1999
| Eddie Irvine
| Ferrari
| Melbourne
| Report
|
1998
| Mika Häkkinen
| McLaren-Mercedes
| Melbourne
| Report
|
1997
| David Coulthard
| McLaren-Mercedes
| Melbourne
| Report
|
1996
| Damon Hill
| Williams-Renault
| Melbourne
| Report
|
1995
| Damon Hill
| Williams-Renault
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1994
| Nigel Mansell
| Williams-Renault
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1993
| Ayrton Senna
| McLaren-Ford
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1992
| Gerhard Berger
| McLaren-Honda
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1991
| Ayrton Senna
| McLaren-Honda
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1990
| Nelson Piquet
| Benetton-Ford
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1989
| Thierry Boutsen
| Williams-Renault
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1988
| Alain Prost
| McLaren-Honda
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1987
| Gerhard Berger
| Ferrari
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1986
| Alain Prost
| McLaren-TAG
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1985
| Keke Rosberg
| Williams-Honda
| Adelaide
| Report
|
1984
| Roberto Moreno
| Ralt-Cosworth
| Calder
| Report
|
1983
| Roberto Moreno
| Ralt-Cosworth
| Calder
| Report
|
1982
| Alain Prost
| Ralt-Cosworth
| Calder
| Report
|
1981
| Roberto Moreno
| Ralt-Cosworth
| Calder
| Report
|
1980
| Alan Jones
| Williams-Cosworth
| Calder
| Report
|
1979
| Johnnie Walker
| Lola-Chevrolet
| Wanneroo
| Report
|
1978
| Graham McRae
| McRae-Chevrolet
| Sandown Raceway
| Report
|
1977
| Warwick Brown
| Lola-Chevrolet
| Oran Park Raceway
| Report
|
1976
| John Goss
| Matich-Holden
| Sandown Raceway
| Report
|
1975
| Max Stewart
| Lola-Chevrolet
| Surfers Paradise
| Report
|
1974
| Max Stewart
| Lola-Chevrolet
| Oran Park Raceway
| Report
|
1973
| Graham McRae
| McRae-Chevrolet
| Sandown Raceway
| Report
|
1972
| Graham McRae
| Leda-Chevrolet
| Sandown Raceway
| Report
|
1971
| Frank Matich
| Matich-Holden
| Warwick Farm
| Report
|
1970
| Frank Matich
| McLaren-Holden
| Warwick Farm
| Report
|
1969
| Chris Amon
| Ferrari
| Lakeside
| Report
|
1968
| Jim Clark
| Lotus-Cosworth
| Sandown Raceway
| Report
|
1967
| Jackie Stewart
| BRM
| Warwick Farm
| Report
|
1966
| Graham Hill
| BRM
| Lakeside
| Report
|
1965
| Bruce McLaren
| Cooper-Climax
| Longford
| Report
|
1964
| Jack Brabham
| Brabham-Climax
| Sandown Raceway
| Report
|
1963
| Jack Brabham
| Brabham-Climax
| Warwick Farm
| Report
|
1962
| Bruce McLaren
| Cooper-Climax
| Caversham
| Report
|
1961
| Lex Davison
| Cooper-Climax
| Mallala
| Report
|
1960
| Alec Mildren
| Cooper-Maserati
| Lowood
| Report
|
1959
| Stan Jones
| Maserati
| Longford
| Report
|
1958
| Lex Davison
| Ferrari
| Bathurst
| Report
|
1957
| Lex Davison Bill Patterson
| Ferrari
| Caversham
| Report
|
1956
| Stirling Moss
| Maserati
| Albert Park
| Report
|
1955
| Jack Brabham
| Cooper-Bristol
| Port Wakefield
| Report
|
1954
| Lex Davison
| HWM-Jaguar
| Southport
| Report
|
1953
| Doug Whiteford
| Talbot-Lago
| Albert Park
| Report
|
1952
| Doug Whiteford
| Talbot-Lago
| Bathurst
| Report
|
1951
| Warwick Pratley
| George Reed Special-Ford
| Narrogin
| Report
|
1950
| Doug Whiteford
| Ford
| Nuriootpa
| Report
|
1949
| John Crouch
| Delahaye
| Leyburn
| Report
|
1948
| Frank Pratt
| BMW
| Point Cook
| Report
|
1947
| Bill Murray
| MG
| Bathurst
| Report
|
1940 -46
| Not held
|
1939
| Alan Tomlinson
| MG
| Lobethal
| Report
|
1938
| Peter Whitehead
| ERA
| Bathurst
| Report
|
1937
| Les Murphy
| MG
| Victor Harbor
| Report
|
1936
| Not held
|
1935
| Les Murphy
| MG
| Phillip Island
| Report
|
1934
| Bob Lea-Wright
| Singer
| Phillip Island
| Report
|
1933
| Bill Thompson
| Riley
| Phillip Island
| Report
|
1932
| Bill Thompson
| Bugatti
| Phillip Island
| Report
|
1931
| Carl Junker
| Bugatti
| Phillip Island
| Report
|
1930
| Bill Thompson
| Bugatti
| Phillip Island
| Report
|
1929
| Arthur Terdich
| Bugatti
| Phillip Island
| Report
|
1928
| Arthur Waite
| Austin
| Phillip Island
| Report
|
Footnote
- The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix
- The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix
- The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix
- The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix
- The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix
- The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix
- The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix
- The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix
- The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix
- The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix
- The Adelaide Review : Archives
- Lewis Hamilton disqualified from Australian grand prix
- Button seals dream Australia win
- Australia aims to keep late March date
- Aust GP enjoys healthy crowds - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
- Albert Park F1 Circuit Crowds
- Australian Stadiums :: Australian F1 GP (d4)
- 2008 FORMULA 1 ING Australian Grand Prix
- Green light for dusk Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park
- Melbourne Grand Prix's seven-year deal