MELBOURNE
\nNearly 420,000 spectators poured into Albert Park over the Australian Grand Prix weekend, organisers said Monday, to set a new attendance record at the circuit, and one of the highest in the sport\u2019s history.
\nMelbourne was back on the calendar this year after missing out in 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions.
\nIt returned with a bang as fans flocked to the track to witness Ferrari\u2019s Charles Leclerc win his second race of the year to stretch his world championship lead.
\nOrganisers said 419,114 people attended over the four days, eclipsing the previous record of 401,000 set at Melbourne\u2019s inaugural Grand Prix in 1996.
\nA bumper 128,294 watched Sunday\u2019s race, with 55,107 turning up on Thursday just to soak up the atmosphere, despite it being a day when no Formula One car took to the track.
\nThe Melbourne numbers topped the 400,000 who attended last year\u2019s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, which was Formula One\u2019s highest attendance in 2021.
\nBut they were short of the 520,000 who flooded the 1995 race weekend in Adelaide \u2014 the last time the Australian Grand Prix was held there before switching to Melbourne.
\nRace organisers put the massive Melbourne crowd down to a combination of a new audience to the sport attracted through the Netflix series \u201cDrive To Survive\u201d, fine weather and fans desperate for high-speed action after missing out for two years.
\nThere was a sea of orange as fans donned the colours of McLaren in support of local hero Daniel Ricciardo, who finished sixth.
\nRicciardo noted during the weekend it had \u201calways been pretty wild here\u201d but that \u201cit felt like it was turned up a notch, or two, or three\u201d.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a good crazy and there\u2019s a lot of support and love. I think everyone\u2019s just stoked to have the race back,\u201d he said.
\nAustralian Grand Prix chief Andrew Westacott described the weekend as \u201cthe happiest sporting event\u201d he had ever been to.
\n\u201cWe were instilling the mojo back into Melbourne,\u201d he told local radio after the city went through tough years with lockdowns and other Covid restrictions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MELBOURNE Nearly 420,000 spectators poured into Albert Park over the Australian Grand Prix weekend, organisers said Monday, to set a new attendance record at the circuit, and one of the highest in the sport\u2019s history. Melbourne was back on the calendar this year after missing out in 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-254481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n