Rumours have been swirling about the Australian Grand Prix. Travis Auld has quashed them

Australian Grand Prix boss Travis Auld has put rumours of the race’s move on the calendar to bed, declaring it will stay put in the early part of the F1 calendar.

In an interview with this masthead, Auld said speculation the Albert Park race might move to the last slot on the F1 calendar – to give the Australian Grand Prix Corporation more time to finish renovations – was incorrect.

Auld said the race would remain in the same window while Albert Park undergoes a $350 million infrastructure upgrade, which is predicted to take until at least 2028. The upgrade will include 14 garages, race control and a race administration and media centre.

“I think that early slot and race one works well, really well for us, and I can’t see any reason why we want to change that,” he said.

Auld said local fans came out of Christmas with the cricket, into tennis, the grand prix and then the AFL season – highlighting the momentum that exists in Melbourne towards the start of the year.

In early February, news broke that “Glamour on the Grid”, the grand prix’s pre-race celebrity event, had slashed its coveted guest list by 40 per cent to cultivate a more “intimate and elevated experience than recent years” to coincide with its 10th anniversary.

Auld said he thought the event needed a “shift and a reshape” and confirmed the grand prix corporation had received feedback on the number of influencers who attended in previous years.

“It [Glamour on the Grid] is an opportunity to launch the grand prix, which is a really important position in the event, but also that it remains exclusive, and we potentially strayed away from that a little bit in the last couple of years,” Auld said.

“Just to get back down to a number where the experience is really good for those that are here, I appreciate that some people who’ve been previously haven’t been able to come along. Hopefully they get a turn in the future,” he said.

Auld confirmed the attendance cull was not unique to the 10th anniversary milestone, and would now be the standard.

In January, the Australian Open boasted record attendance numbers, with crowds flocking through Melbourne Park’s gates for world-class tennis, food, fashion and concerts.

However, Tennis Australia also copped criticism for the increasing number of influencers and content creators at the event and received complaints from customers who struggled to access courts due to extreme queues.

The criticism opened up conversations on how sporting organisers can balance the importance of promoting their event on social media without impacting how the everyday customer experiences an event.

Auld said while there had been commentary around influencers at Glamour on the Grid, he thought the balance of content creators at other events during the grand prix weekend was not an issue.

“If you want to be put on the map and let people know what you’re doing, you need people there who tell a story that’s really important,” he said.

Auld said while some celebrities and influencers were invited by the corporation, the majority of them were invited by F1 teams, adding organisers were “one player in an overall ecosystem”.

The skyrocketing popularity of Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive has drawn in a new demographic of F1 fans, metamorphosing the petrolhead fan base and inviting in a younger and more diverse generation.

Women now make up 35 per cent of F1’s global attendance. In 2025, the Australian Grand Prix’s attendance was made up of 46 per cent women – a statistic Auld and his team are proud of .

“I’m continually surprised by particularly young females who get everything about the sport, and whether that’s Drive to Survive or just taking a real interest in it,” Auld said.

“So we’re sort of very fortunate as an event to have the sort of level of interest, but also the diversity that would be the envy of most other sports.”

Auld said he wanted innovation and technology to be at the forefront of the Australian Grand Prix fan experience over the next decade.

“I think what we’ll see globally, and we’ll see here, is the sort of further introduction of the role of tech and data and how people experience the event through VR [virtual reality].”

Last week, motorsport fans learnt Victoria had lost the MotoGP after three decades, ending the race’s long connection to Phillip Island and dealing a blow to the Victorian government after it refused to move the event to Melbourne.

Auld said Dorna Sports was adamant the event be moved to a street circuit, adding, “there’s nothing more the Victorian government could have done.”

After missing out on the AFL’s top job to Andrew Dillion in 2023, Auld – who spent 25 years with the league – now leads one of the most successful sporting events in Australia.

In hindsight, is he glad he missed out on the AFL gig?

“I didn’t feel like that at the time,” he laughed. “But opportunities open up, and I loved 20-plus years at AFL, I loved every moment of it ... so then when one door closed, I’m very fortunate that this one opened.”

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.