Overheard at the Australian GP: Esquire’s motorsports writer recaps the race that was

“THERE IS NO OTHER race on the calendar like Australia.” This is a quote I can attribute to at least five people from the international racing community, with whom I spoke in the F1 paddock over race weekend – including promoters from other races around the world, who had come to scope out how we do things here in Melbourne. Nobody is doing F1 races quite like us; for the fans, the brands and the teams that travel far and wide to be here, Australia holds pole position in terms of vibes and experiences across the international F1 stage.  

For some of us (me), the festivities kicked off on Tuesday, with a pop-up piano bar designed by Scuderia Ferrari driver and part-time pianist/composer Charles Leclerc, to announce his Chivas Regal ambassadorship (which you can read about here). From there, the action continued every day and night until Sunday.

The track days are long and Melbourne being the season opener, the evening celebrations happen nightly. It’s all very glamorous, sure, but there’s nothing more humbling than getting changed for a cocktail event in the F1 international media centre, before lugging your suitcase through F1, F2, F3 and Supercars paddock and out into the crowd towards the gates. At least it was a swift exit – said suitcase did have race-ready weight reduction and aerodynamics, being part of the new Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon-approved Carl Friedrik x Williams Racing collection, one of the many cool collaborations we’ve seen emerge this season across fashion, lifestyle and food and beverage.   

There was plenty of gossip floating around Albert Park leading into the race. One of the funniest rumours I heard – and had verified as not true – was the Alpine garage had a bout of lice and that’s why both Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan had shaved their heads. (Braver than I, a fellow journalist asked Pierre Gasly if he had been to Turkey recently. The answer to that was ‘no’.) Another hot topic – among the Aussies at least – was Daniel Ricciardo. The former Red Bull driver was nowhere to be seen the entire week, despite launching his new DR3 x St Hugo Enchanté rosé wine, as well as an Enchanté merch pop-up shop on Chapel Street and an Enchanté bar in one of the event precincts at the track. 

Allegedly, Ricciardo didn’t want to expose himself to the relentless questions about what was next for him. Bad optics for a former driver selling his wares at the F1, or understandable considering the disappointment that ensued last year? I’ll let you be the judge of that. 

Meanwhile, over at the Supercars paddock, there was a major hat-gate drama. The two drivers at Dick Johnson Racing’s headshot signage featured them wearing the Boost pole hat, which is a no-no for a race weekend, considering that’s the same hat that would usually be given to those who qualified in pole position. So, the signage had to be covered up – even Supercar drivers can get embroiled in fashion faux pas.

Hot predications

Obviously, everyone was talking about Lewis Hamilton, who appeared extremely confident, relaxed and in great spirits in the lead-up. The question that arose more often than anything else, was how he was adjusting to the change at Ferrari – a topic Leclerc broached very diplomatically in his Esquire interview. This is not really all that salacious, but a fair point for any driver changing teams.

In one of the first press conferences, which paired Hamilton with ex-Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz – a diabolical move by the FIA – the seven-time World Champion addressed the issue and said: “I’m still learning, this new car that’s quite a lot different from what I’ve driven my whole career, in the sense of the Mercedes power coming to the Ferrari power, it’s something quite new – different vibration, different feel, different way of working.” 

With a smile to show he was still confident and enjoying the process, he added, “The whole team works completely differently. I was just sitting looking at last year’s race traces and it’s upside down compared to the previous ones [and] what I’ve been used to,” He said with a relaxed, knowing laugh,“ I don’t understand it all.”  At his appearance at Casa Ferrari on Thursday night to launch the new Ferrari F80, Hamilton made a joke that ‘Hammer Time’ doesn’t have the same ring to it when said in an Italian accent. So there’s a new catchphrase to look out for. 

One of the big predictions this year is around whether McLaren is about to embark on a big return to championship streaks – and whether we might see a Red Bull or former Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 race-winning dominance. Piastri is tentative about this question. “Obviously, that would be ideal to try and have that level of success and competitiveness,” he said during the FIA press conference. “I think that’s what every team dreams of and what every driver dreams of. But at this point in the regulations, with how last season went, expecting that is incredibly naive.” 

Nodding to how next year, the regulations will change again – including a focus on car agility, increased electric power, 100 per cent sustainable fuels, active aerodynamics and a new overtaking system – Piastri added: “I think this season is going to be just as tight, if not even tighter, than the second half of last year especially. So yeah, of course, that’s what we want to aim for, but we have a new set of rules coming next year, and that’s probably going to change the pecking order, or at least the gaps, quite a bit. So I don’t think it’s the same circumstances. But also, I think this year is going to be an incredibly competitive year for F1. As much as I would like to try and have that level of success, I think it’s going to be very, very tough.” 

Piastri may be playing it cool about McLaren’s predicted dominance, but every eye is on the talented Aussie this year. Judging by the reactions that came out of the media centre during Piastri’s race – first when he was told to hold position and not race teammate, Lando Norris; again when the two drivers were finally given the all-clear to go for it, and the moment he spun on pooled water on lap 44 and slid into the grass – the entire international media community was cheering him on, hoping that he would break the Australian GP curse, which has never seen a local driver take home the win. Alas, now we’ll now have to wait another year. 

Related: Oscar Piastri has his eyes on the prize

The F1 movie trailer reveal

Over the weekend, the trailer for the new F1 movie starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris and directed by Top Gun: Maverick auteur Joseph Kosinski also dropped, a topic that arose a few times among chit-chats within the paddock and trackside among fans. (Lewis Hamilton is one of the film’s producers.)

Williams Racing team principal, James Vowels, anticipates the film to not only build upon the success of Drive to Survive, but also contribute to the cultural iconography of the sport, in the same way Top Gun turned up the cool factor of fighter jet pilots for the masses all those years ago. “Netflix has been transformative, and it’s not because they are filming over there in the corner. They really have transformed who we are as a sport and where we are today in the business and we wouldn’t be the business we are without them.”

Related: Lewis Hamilton on winning again and making the Formula 1 movie with Brad Pitt

 “My opinion is that the film will open us to a different and larger market, and that’s why we’re all excited about it. From what I’ve seen in the trailers, especially when you sit and watch what they have been doing with it, they’re doing everything to make it look like there’s not an extra gear they’ve added or an accelerator you can push harder. They’re fundamentally trying to replicate our sport in film, and that’s what I connected to when I went through it,” he said of his experience with the film’s production and watching the trailer. 

Similarly, Ferrari team principal, Frédéric Vasseur echoed his appreciation of Formula 1’s fan expansion through entertainment. “I’m already convinced Netflix helped a lot over the last years. If you go back to 2018 or 2019, F1 was absolutely not in the same shape,” he said. “Netflix helped us massively on this journey, and I hope this movie will do the same because it’s the best way to attract new audiences. F1 today is targeting a new audience – more female, younger – the same as what we had with Netflix. And from the quality of what I’ve seen so far, it’s something magic. It’s good.”

Catering to the fandoms

Over the course of the four days, Albert Park smashed its own attendance record, with 465,498 fans coming through the gates. This made it, again, one of the biggest in the world, second only to Silverstone in the UK (480,000) and 54,502 shy from the all-time F1 record set by us (naturally) in 1995 in Adelaide before the event was moved to Melbourne.

The LVMH deal saw glamour and luxury return to F1, in a way that’s been missing for a long time.  Sure, this was evident all throughout the glamorous paddock club hospitality and on the podium, where Moët & Chandon was popped (real champagne is back!). It’s an obvious and intelligent partnership, considering both luxury and Formula 1 share the values of craftsmanship, provenance and legacy, but from a brand perception point of view, it makes a statement. It might be a small thing to some, but the difference between looking out to the track and seeing something like Crypto.com branding versus the cool new Louis Vuitton signage (the ‘LV’ monogram had been designed with flames coming off it) brought a sense of luxury back to the sport, creating the feeling that you were indeed witnessing the most historic, luxurious and prestigious race in the world.

Related: Inside the great glow-up of the Australian Grand Prix

The tricky challenge for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, however, is how to embrace this new luxury sponsorship without ostracising the wider fans who don’t have tickets to the Paddock Club suites. As with any fandom, F1 fandoms – particularly emerging fan demographics such as the growing number of women and Gen Z supporters – want to feel seen, heard and legitimised. 

Albert Park is a special race for fans for a few reasons. Of course, there’s Melbourne Walk, the long road into the paddock where the drivers and team principals do their fan signings and show off their paddock ‘fits (or at least Lewis Hamilton does, most drivers this year wore their team kits).

Australia is the only race that currently does this, and it’s a bit like being at a Miss Universe contest. As the arrival of each driver is announced, a pop song is belted over the speakers and the crowd bursts into cheers as the drivers walk down the path waving and posing for selfies. It’s pure, high-energy entertainment. This also happens for Supercar drivers, which you do feel sorry for when some of the F1 fans vocalise their disappointment (sorry to those legends, they deserve better). This year, fans lined up at the gate from the twilight hours of the morning to nab their seats on the Melbourne Walk stands; photographers were restricted to a special area – much to their chagrin – so the fans could get the best views. No doubt, other races around the world are taking notes. 

The Australian Grand Prix also has one of the biggest cohorts of female fans of any race, at around 43 percent, with the fastest-growing age bracket of 16 to 32. In a bid to appeal to the energy, passion and well, spend, of this fandom, female-focused brands like Mecca Max and Shark Beauty’s stands offered beauty touch-ups and acted as a sort of clubhouse or meeting place for F1 girlie communities to meet and make new friends. While the merchandise stands bragged plenty of new team kits, ‘Sporty and Rich’-inspired Albert Park fashion collections, and very expensive Drive To Survive merchandise ($190 for a DTS hoodie. In this economy?!). Some of the hottest pieces were the new Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 x Adidas collaboration and Ferrari’s Puma-stamped collection. 

It’s also worth noting the tension that’s been building between the longtime fans of Australian motorsport, who have vocalised their opinions about feeling disconnected from the sport they love, amid the recent lifestyle, entertainment and fashion-ification shifts in F1. This is something the Australian Grand Prix organisers considered in their planning and addressed by building out more precincts for different interests. For example, those more interested in motorsport or technology had a dedicated space with plenty of activations, entertainment, education and guest speakers imparting their knowledge about racing to the fans, including appearances from F1 drivers, motorsport legends and a really inspiring discussion between Aussies Krystina Emmanouilides, the Senior Aero Correlation Engineer at Kick Sauber; Molly Taylor, a Rally and Extreme E Champion; and recently announced F1 Academy Driver for 2025 Aiva Anagnostiadis. 

For those who wanted to kick on, the Lakeside Festival stage saw Fatboy Slim, Anna Lunoe, Baker Boy, Tones and I, The Living End and Spiderbait take the party into the night. I was too broken by the end of race day to attend, despite the Fat Boy Slim FOMO, but from all reports I received, it was “lit”, despite the muddy conditions, which saw more than 15mm of rain fell in Melbourne between 9am and the end of the race,

We always knew the 2025 Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix was going to be big, but it also benefited from a perfect storm of F1 drama. In February last year, Hamilton announced his move to Ferrari which lit a fire under Melbourne’s Tifosi – the biggest Ferrari fandom of any race outside of Monza; April saw Australia reinstated as the season opener, a spot it traditionally held between 1996 and 2020. Then, later in the year, just five days after LVMH announced its mega 10-year, US$1B deal, tickets for the Saturday and Sunday sold out in under an hour. This trend was echoed across the trackside hospitality, including Ferrari’s vibey Tuscan-style compound, Casa Ferrari, which had sold out its $12k-a-pop tickets by Christmas, and Audi’s extremely chic two-storey trackside hospitality facility – a glimmer of what the German performance marque’s big return to F1 next year will bring.  

The race itself, as we know by now, did not disappoint – if you were a first-time fan, viewer or attendee, you certainly stumbled across a race for the ages: Isack Hadjar out on the formation lap, Sainz and Doohan crashing on lap one, Piastri off-roading on the grass, Hamilton and Leclerc beefing with their engineers, Leclerc racing in a tub of water, race strategists fighting for their life amid the classic ever-changing Melbourne wet weather forecast, rookies dropping like flies, Fernando Alonso crashing in the most inconvenient place on the track, Aussie Medical Car Driver Karl Reindler sending his Aston Martin DBX707 sideways through the corners on the safety car, Kimi Antonelli overtaking like a menace to finish P4, Lance Stroll, Albon and Nico Hulkenberg in the points; and a podium for Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and George Russell. Woof. 

The popping of Moët & Chandon magnums not only heralded the return of champagne to the podium, but now in its 75th year, Formula 1 is back and racing again with a bang. 

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