‘They don’t care about us’: Australian Grand Prix ticket prices rise again
Formula 1 fans hoping to secure tickets to the Australian Grand Prix will have to pay more money to attend next year’s race, as the Australian Grand Prix Corporation hikes prices for grandstand and general admission tickets.
Last week, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation released the prices for the F1 season opener, with a four-day general admission ticket rising to $385, a 24 per cent increase from last year.
The cheapest four-day grandstand tickets – Button, Clarke, Wait and Webber – have risen from $485 to $565, while the Fangio and Prost grandstands have risen by $200.
Organisers also unveiled a new grandstand in honour of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri – who may enter Albert Park as the reigning world champion – with a four-day adult pass in that stand going for $1045 or a Sunday race ticket for $835.
Frustrated fans and content creators took to social media to voice their frustrations after the ticket announcement, many voicing concerns around being “priced out” of the sport.
Over the past five years, a general admission four-day pass has risen from $189 to $385, an increase of 103.7 per cent.
F1 fan Ian Anderson emigrated from Northern Ireland to Australia in the early 2000s and has attended 17 Australian grands prix. He has witnessed the sport’s seismic growth and notes the grand prix has improved “for the better” with more options for children and a wide range of food and entertainment events.
His main concern was the rising cost and difficulty navigating the Ticketmaster system – which crashed last year after a global third-party outage.
Ian Anderson’s F1 tickets in 2014.
Anderson sent this masthead a photo of his 2014 tickets, a four-day Alan Jones grandstand pass for $525. In 2026, that same ticket will cost $825.
“It’s the ticketing system that’s ruining the GP for everybody,” Anderson said. “The prices are ridiculous for the F1 here in Melbourne. I remember it was $450 for a four-day pass in the Fangio stand. Not any more. It’s double that now. It’s terrible that they don’t care about us F1 fans.”
A popular F1 content creator, who asked that their name be withheld for privacy reasons, said it was disappointing to see pre-sale tickets for the Australian Grand Prix were reserved for American Express customers and said the increased prices were pushing fans out of the sport.
“The Aus GP has always been advertised as a family event, you can go in there and have a fun, family day out,” they said. “But now, families can’t afford to take four or five of them for thousands of dollars.”
While Australia remains one of the more affordable races compared to Monaco or Las Vegas, the content creator said it was important to remember that Australians typically only have one opportunity to see a race each year.
“We and New Zealand and surrounds only have this one event that is meant to be accessible to us, whereas, if you’re in Europe, you can go to multiple races,” they said.
“People are saying that it’s cheaper, especially if they don’t live in Melbourne, to fly to Singapore, and they’re paying less in tickets, flights and accommodation to go to another country than come to our own, which is a bit of a shame.”
Tickets go on sale to the public on Wednesday, September 10 at 12pm AEST, with early access available for American Express cardholders from September 3.
Why are F1 tickets getting more expensive?
In response to questions from this masthead, AGPC chief executive officer Travis Auld said there was a wide range of tickets available for fans across the four days and noted there was price freeze on Thursday and Friday general admission tickets.
“In setting pricing for the event, we’ve aimed to strike a balance between keeping tickets accessible while continuing to enhance the fan experience and respond to the record level of interest,” he said.
For the past two years, Australian Grand Prix tickets were subject to demand-based or dynamic pricing, which led to price fluctuations.
A spokesperson from the Australian Grand Prix Corporation confirmed demand-based pricing would not be in effect next year.
In 2025, officials reported a record crowd of 465,498 over the four days – a clear indication of the sport’s increasing popularity.
Other international races, including the British, Canadian and Hungarian events, have all increased ticket prices over the last five years.
On the surface, the obvious answer behind F1’s skyrocketing fan base is Netflix’s Drive to Survive. Released in 2019, the docuseries turbocharged the largely male-dominated sport, inviting a new legion of female fans and millennial and Gen Z audiences.
However, the seeds for F1’s growth were actually sown in 2017, when Liberty Media acquired the Formula One Group for $US4.4 billion, according to The New York Times.
Liberty Media implemented sweeping changes to modernise and expand the sport’s reach, including launching its own streaming service F1 TV, relaxing teams’ social media restrictions and introducing races in the United States.
Since then, the sport’s popularity has soared, with record attendance numbers and increased broadcast viewership, with 16 to 24-year-old women the fastest-growing age sector.
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