Melbourne will host the opening round of the 2025 Formula 1 season, returning the Australian Grand Prix to top spot on the calendar for the first time since 2019.
The 2025 Australian Grand Prix will take place on 16 March, the earliest running of the race since 2015.
The timing of Ramadan has restricted Bahrain from taking up its now traditional place at the head of the record-equalling 24-round calendar announced on Friday by Formula 1 and the FIA, with Australia picking up the slack.
It’s the first time Melbourne will host the season-opening round under the terms of its current contract, which guarantees it rights to first billing at least five times before the deal expires at the end of 2037.
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Confirmation of Albert Park’s return to the first round guarantees Australian fans will be the first to see Lewis Hamilton race for Ferrari following the Briton’s sensational decision to leave Mercedes at the end of this season.
Ferrari is the equal most successful team in the history of the Australian Grand Prix, with its 11 wins equalling the same claimed by McLaren.
Hamilton has won the event only twice, in 2008 and 2015, putting him two wins behind record-holder Michael Schumacher and one behind both Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel.
Melbourne-born Oscar Piastri is the only Australian under contract next season, while Daniel Ricciardo will spend this season vying for a fresh contract to take him beyond his current one-year deal with RB.
Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan is also on the driver market searching for a way onto the grid for 2025.
Next year’s race will be the 28th running of the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park and 39th Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Melbourne has broken its own attendance benchmarks every year since the race returned to the country following the pandemic.
A record 132,106 attended this year’s race on Sunday, with an unprecedented 452,055 fans turning up over four days.
Carlos Sainz won the Grand Prix in a Ferrari one-two finish ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc after pole-getter Max Verstappen retired with a brake fire.
From Melbourne Formula 1 will travel directly to the Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix on 23 March.A weekend off will be followed by a triple-header spanning Japan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, concluding on Easter weekend, after which the schedule will follow a similar pattern to this season.
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