‘Round 1’ and ‘Australian Grand Prix’ just seem to go together — or they did, anyway.

For almost its entire tenure to date Melbourne has hosted the opening race of the Formula 1 season, with the motorsport world descending on Albert Park for a sunny sporting festival to kick off the battle for racing’s biggest prize.

It took a pandemic to break the tradition. The wealthier races in the Middle East have muscled in, and with pre-season testing now tending to take place in the warmer climes of Bahrain, the sport has decided it’s just easier to open proceedings in the desert rather than Down Under.

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We close out Season 3 of In The Fast Lane with a look ahead to the 2023 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix with AGPC CEO Andrew Westacott, who joins hosts Matt Clayton and Michael Lamonato along with our AusGP Access members to discuss the unprecedented interest in next year’s event (03:17), Oscar Piastri’s prospects in year one at McLaren (07:35), the extension of Melbourne’s contract to 2035 and whether the race was a chance to move to Sydney (12:49), the 2023 music line-up headlined by Birds of Tokyo and Sneaky Sound System (18:45), the must-see areas and activities for first-time grand prix patrons (25:30), how fans can get up close to F2 and F3 in their debuts in Melbourne (29:00), and what the coming years have in store at Albert Park (32:39).

With the news that the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix will remain in Melbourne until 2035, Australian Grand Prix Corporation Chief Executive Andrew Westacott joins us to discuss the unprecedented length of the new extension, the upcoming first visits by Formula 2 and Formula 3 to the event, Australia’s place as one of the opening races of the season and the competition between cities for the right to host F1, while we review the return of F1 to Canada and Max Verstappen’s tense victory for Red Bull Racing in Montreal.

With Andrew Westacott, Rodney Gordon, Trent Price, and Abhishek Takle. We set unreasonable expectations for the 2017 season to preview the Australian Grand Prix, Peter McGinley discovers a new sound effect, and we dip our toes into coverage of US politics.