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Victorians are on the hook for an extra $115 million to rebuild the Formula 1 pit facilities at Albert Park after asbestos was discovered in the existing building \u2013 pushing the total cost of upgrades to $395 million.<\/p>\n
The state government agreed to the pit redevelopment in 2023 as part of negotiations with Formula 1 owners Liberty Media to ensure the Grand Prix stays in Melbourne until 2037.<\/p>\n
![\"Large](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fe8be0547cc6cfe2522eb2ddf585a879b2089fce.jpeg\")
Large trees were felled around the existing pit building last year to prepare for the redevelopment. Joe Armao<\/p>\n
Victorian taxpayers also paid $100 million in both 2023 and 2024 to cover the shortfall in revenue from staging the race, raising questions about the state\u2019s value for money from the event.<\/p>\n
Demolition of the existing pit building is set to begin shortly after this year\u2019s event finishes on Sunday, followed by two years of work to build new garages, a media centre, community sports facilities and an expansion to the exclusive $6000-a-head Paddock Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n But a report by the Victorian Auditor-General\u2019s Office released on Wednesday revealed that in June last year, those in charge of the project discovered \u201cthe widespread presence of asbestos-containing material \u2026 throughout the project site\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cIn August 2025 due to the cost and program impacts of remediation \u2026 the managing contractor submitted its WMP offer at $395m which exceeded the Target WMP by $115m,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n Asked to clarify its report \u2013 which was based on a survey provided to government agencies \u2013 the auditor-general\u2019s office told The Age that \u201cWMP\u201d referred to a \u201cwaste management plan\u201d, meaning that the $395 million bill for cleaning up the site was in addition to the cost of the construction works. That was also confirmed by a government spokesperson.<\/p>\n However, after the publication of this story, the auditor-general\u2019s office and the government told The Age that \u201cWMP\u201d in fact referred to \u201cwarranted maximum price\u201d \u2013 the project\u2019s overall cost, which had increased by $115 million.<\/p>\n The report also warned the asbestos discovery presented \u201csignificant budget and program challenges\u201d and will require Victoria to reconsider the cost of the project\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n \u201cThe project team is assessing value management options however it is likely that these will result in breaching the AGPC [Australian Grand Prix Corporation] contract with F1 and\/or not delivering scope previously announced by government,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n Peter Logan, from the Save Albert Park group, said the additional cost to Victoria was a disgraceful waste of money to host an event that degraded one of Melbourne\u2019s finest assets.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just can\u2019t stop, they can never say enough is enough,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge waste of money because the revenue \u2013 not even the profits \u2013 will be going straight to Liberty Media.\u201d<\/p>\n Logan said the race locked Melburnians out of Albert Park for three weeks, with another four months of heavy trucks and machinery on site to prepare for and then pack down the event.<\/p>\n \u201cAlbert Park is key to Melbourne\u2019s identity as a place with beautiful parks. It\u2019s like Central Park to New York. [But] it\u2019s just disappearing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Several large trees were cut down near the existing pit facilities last year to prepare<\/a> for the redevelopment.<\/p>\n The Australian Grand Prix Corporation \u2013 which is chaired by former Andrews government major events minister Martin Pakula \u2013 referred questions to the state government. The state government was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n Opposition major events spokesman David Southwick accused the government of keeping the overrun secret despite knowing about it since last year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Grand Prix is a proud event on our state\u2019s calendar, but under [Premier] Jacinta Allan, Victorian taxpayers are the ones being taken for a ride,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The auditor general\u2019s report on Wednesday also raises concerns that Victorians are being kept in the dark about cost blowouts and delays in the state\u2019s $212.7 billion infrastructure program.<\/p>\n It found that budget papers and other government documents do not \u201calways give complete information on major projects\u2019 progress and significant variations to cost, time, scope and benefits\u201d.<\/p>\n The criticism comes as the Allan government is already under intense pressure over mismanagement of the Big Build, including the criminal infiltration and corruption in the CFMEU and broader industry.<\/p>\n The Age on Wednesday revealed a secret Victorian ombudsman briefing<\/a> warned that the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority, which oversees the Big Build, is exposed to corruption because it fails to keep adequate records about how it spends taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts<\/a> on email or turn on notifications in the app.<\/p>\n CORRECTION<\/p>\n An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the cost of the Albert Park pit building redevelopment had increased by $395 million. The cost has increased by $115 million.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Trees](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/8c7d373e20362cb260c9fc138c0ae603221b4508.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Patrick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771679473_190_445508f1d2f31e43c6b4482708766e15cf5f5661.png\")
Patrick Hatch<\/a> is transport reporter at The Age and a former business reporter.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated March 4, 2026 \u2014 5:23pm,first published 1:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-517887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517887","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=517887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}