{"id":467277,"date":"2026-02-08T22:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T22:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467277\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T22:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T22:40:10","slug":"australian-grand-prix-start-time-should-melbourne-be-a-night-race-what-would-albert-park-look-like-at-night-christian-horner-interview-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467277\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Grand Prix start time, should Melbourne be a night race?, what would Albert Park look like at night?, Christian Horner interview, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Red Bull boss Christian Horner has called for a major shake-up to F1\u2019s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s race around Albert Park Lake will begin at 3pm local time on Sunday 8 March, but going forward Horner wants that to change. <\/p>\n<p>\ufeffFox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship\u2122 LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au?pg=f1&amp;extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkmotorsport-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-mtr-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra&amp;voucher=\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Melbourne GP is one of the few stops on the F1 schedule where the race is held at friendly hours for Australian fans and where their counterparts overseas have to sacrifice their sleep to tune in.<\/p>\n<p>But Horner believes the European audience, in particular, needs to be thought of when discussing the start time down under.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Melbourne at night would be faster, and it would be great for the world to see it,\u201d Horner told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldsun.com.au\/news\/victoria\/fantastic-to-see-melbourne-under-lights-f1-powerhouse-revved-up-for-night-race-at-australian-grand-prix\/news-story\/3a82db8a38996cae2673e2a792c94c5d\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Herald Sun<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Europe, certainly, it would (be broadcast) at a better TV time. Night races have a cool vibe to them, and I think Melbourne should give it a go.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they don\u2019t like it,\u201d Horner added, \u201cthey can always go back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA &#8211; MARCH 22: Oracle Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner leaving the garage after practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park Circuit on March 22, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Kym Illman\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Horner\u2019s suggestion would result in F1 following suit of the Australian Open tennis\u2019 night session with the prime time evening slot beginning at 8.30am in the UK and 9.30am in most of Europe.<\/p>\n<p>A night race would not suit the US audience, however, as it would take place in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n<p>The calls for a time change are almost an annual event.<\/p>\n<p>But CEO of the Australian Grand Prix Travis Auld, who was a long-time AFL executive, poured cold water on those calls ahead of last year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had these conversations with Formula One,\u201d Auld told The Independent when asked about the prospect of a night race in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere used to be a lot more pressure for a night race, purely because of the European bias of the calendar. As the calendar has grown and broadened, I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s the case as much anymore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd in fact, I think we share the view with F1, that this event works pretty well during the day with the backdrop of the city. So, at the moment, we don\u2019t have any great reason to consider changing the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AI generated image of The Melbourne Grand Prix race if it was held at night &#8211; Credit: Getty and GeminiSource: Supplied Source Unknown<\/p>\n<p>The Australian Grand Prix has a contract in place until 2037 and Auld did not rule out change at some stage in the next decade, even if he did suggest that it will not happen anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a whole lot of factors that go into the timing of it: the overall track schedule, what time of year it is, the impact on daylight saving and so there\u2019s a series of things that need to be considered,\u201d Auld said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we could move the time around, because it worked better for everyone, of course we would do that. It\u2019s just not as simple as picking a time that might work for one fan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA &#8211; MARCH 23: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 leads Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari SF-24 during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park Circuit on March 23, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney &#8211; Formula 1\/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Red Bull boss Christian Horner has called for a major shake-up to F1\u2019s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[2095,64,63,689,937,13275,1199,238950,2057,817,813,816,2105,238954,78378,825,647,117426,238952,70420,2041,2067,3583,677,238951,161690,233881,12022,238953,238949,3595,2020,85,6750,193430,161688,209117,3586,2614,660],"class_list":["post-467277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-barcelona","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-christian-horner","tag-cool-vibe","tag-europe","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-illustration-purposes","tag-kym-illman","tag-max-verstappen","tag-melbourne","tag-night-race","tag-night-races","tag-night-session","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-powerbroker-calls","tag-prime-time-evening","tag-promising-testing-session","tag-province-of-barcelona","tag-season-opening-australian","tag-source-image","tag-southern-europe","tag-spain","tag-sports","tag-start-time","tag-time-change","tag-time-evening-slot","tag-travis-auld","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}