Setting a new attendance record for the
Albert Park Grand Prix circuit in Melbourne and one of the highest in the
sport’s history, around 420,000 people showed up according to the organizers.
Due to the pandemic and the resulting travel restrictions, the Australian Grand Prix was kept out of the 2020 and 2021 race calendar. The event however returned with a record attendance to witness Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc win his second race of the year, stretching his driver’s championship lead by 34 points.
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Almost 130,000 spectators watched
Sunday’s race with 55,100 turning up on Thursday despite it being a day with no
Formula One cars on the track. The four day racing event topped the highest
attendance count of last year at the United States Grand Prix held in Austin,
Texas. Despite the record, the Melbourne race fell short of the 1995 race
weekend attendance in Adelaide which added up to 520,000. The large surge in
attendance can be attributed to a combination of the Netflix series “Drive
to Survive”, great weather and eager fans waiting for high-speed action
after a wait of two years.
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A good portion of the fans donned orange
in support of the local hero Daniel Ricciardo driving for McLaren who finished
sixth. Ricciardo noted that it has “always been pretty wild here” but
“it felt like it was turned up a notch, or two, or
three”. “It’s definitely a good crazy and there’s a lot of
support and love. I think everyone’s just stoked to have the race back,”
he said. The Australian Grand Prix chief Andrew Westacott described the race
weekend as the “happiest sporting event” he had ever been a part of.
He was quoted talking on a local radio – “We were instilling the mojo back
into Melbourne”, after the tough lockdowns and other Covid restrictions
the city has been through.
