[clarification needed][1] One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venues having been used since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928.

Grand Prix machinery had already been filtering through in the shape of older Maserati and OSCAs and smaller Coopers but had yet to prove to be superior to the locally developed cars.

Brabham, who first won the Grand Prix in 1955 in a Cooper T40 Bristol he had brought home from his first foray into English racing,[11] would test new developments for Cooper during the European winter, beginning a flood of Cooper-Climax Grand Prix machinery into Australia and New Zealand before Brabham started building his own cars, as well as the appearance of Lotus chassis as well, finally killing off the Australian "specials".

The Formula One stars of the era all visited the Tasman Series, including World Champions Jim Clark, John Surtees, Phil Hill, Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt, while other F1 regulars Timmy Mayer, Pedro Rodriguez, Piers Courage, leading teams from Cooper, Lotus, Lola, BRM, even the four wheel drive Ferguson P99 and finally, Ferrari, racing against the local stars, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, Chris Amon, Frank Gardner, Frank Matich, Leo Geoghegan and Kevin Bartlett.

By the end of the decade, European teams were increasingly reluctant to commit to the Tasman Series in the face of longer home seasons, but also having to develop 2.5-litre versions of their 3.0 litre F1 engines.

[13] The newly crowned world champion, Jones swept the field aside in his Williams-Ford, but with only two F1 cars entering (the other being the Alfa Romeo 179 driven by Bruno Giacomelli).

[16] The Australian Grand Prix became a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1985 with the last race of the season held on the street circuit in Adelaide.

After starting 16th in his McLaren, he made his way to the lead by lap 57, but a lack of brakes cause him to crash into a wall in a sad end to his Formula One career.

Briton Nigel Mansell and Brazilian Nelson Piquet in Williams–Hondas and Frenchman Alain Prost, in a comparatively underpowered McLaren–TAG/Porsche, were competing for the drivers' title.

Whilst comfortably in the top three with 20 laps to go, Mansell's Williams suffered a spectacular mechanical failure, with a rear tyre puncture at 180 mph (290 km/h) on the Brabham Straight, creating a huge shower of sparks as the floor of the vehicle dragged along the bitumen surface.

But an unconvinced Prost came in after one lap and withdrew; and Senna- who was still in an awful mental state from the previous race, immediately began driving as fast as he could.

Nigel Mansell, returning to Formula One in place of the late Senna, was on pole but a poor start resulted in the two championship rivals Hill and Schumacher battling for the lead.

In 1995, Mika Häkkinen suffered a tyre failure at the early part of the first qualifying session at the high speed Brewery Bend between Jones and Brabham Straights, which resulted in him crashing heavily into the outside wall.

After the government of Jeff Kennett spent an undisclosed amount,[20] it was announced on 17 December 1993 (less than a week after the South Australian election) that the race would be shifted to a rebuilt Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne.

The race organisers and the government claimed that the economic benefits to the state, although unquantifiable, outweighed the costs, and highlighted that the park's public amenities have been greatly improved from the World War II vintage facilities previously located at Albert Park; the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (scene of many Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games events) being the centre piece and best known of the revitalised facilities.

Footage of the crash, and Brundle's subsequent rush back to the pits to take the spare car for the restart, ensured the first race in Melbourne gained widespread coverage.

The start of the 2002 race saw pole-sitter Barrichello and Williams's Ralf Schumacher come together at Turn One in a spectacular accident that saw 11 of the 22 cars eliminated before the end of the opening lap.

Michael Schumacher dominated thereafter to post a third straight Melbourne win, but his achievements were overshadowed by the fifth place of Australian Mark Webber on his Formula One debut.

Webber, in an underpowered and underfunded Minardi, had to recover from a botched late pit stop and resist the challenges of Toyota's Mika Salo in the closing stages, and took to the podium after the race with Australian team owner Paul Stoddart in one of Melbourne's more memorable Grand Prix moments.

The race ended with Button, who had led from the start, leading the field over the line after the safety car had been deployed with three laps remaining following a crash between Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica, who had been fighting for second place.

The results earned by Brawn, Williams, and Toyota were awarded, despite an appeal being held two weeks later against a ruling on the legality of the teams' diffuser design.

The reintroduction of V6 turbo hybrid engines for 2014 saw a dominant performance from Mercedes's Nico Rosberg at the Grand Prix, who took the victory from the McLarens of Kevin Magnussen and Button, both of whom were promoted due to the disqualification of Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull post race for illegal fuel flow.

Ferrari and AlphaTauri as teams based in Italy, the most coronavirus-infected country in Europe at the time, expressed concern about the possibility of leaving the quarantine zone.

One of McLaren's mechanics got flu-like symptoms when he arrived in Australia, his coronavirus test returned positive and the British team withdrew from the race.

[45] The move of the Australian Grand Prix to Melbourne saw a change in the time of year that the Formula 1 teams and personnel made their annual voyage to Australia.

1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve made his race debut in Melbourne's first year of 1996, and became one of three men to secure pole position in his maiden Grand Prix.

[46][47] The 2021 event was originally scheduled to open the season in March, but moved to November due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and travel disruptions, then cancelled on 6 July.

[52] According to a 2022 economic impact assessment conducted by Ernst & Young, the 2022 Australian Grand Prix generated an estimated $92 million of direct spending in the Victorian economy and boosted Victoria's Gross State Product by an estimated $171 million, with the Grand Prix also credited for driving up hotel occupancy and stimulating patronage for hospitality businesses.

In 2009, higher unemployment and a snap public transport strike were cited by Victorian Premier John Brumby as a reason for a slight drop in crowds.

[70] Official attendance numbers, which are inexact and have been challenged by the anti-Grand Prix lobby group Save Albert Park as gross overestimates,[71][72] have been as follows: Drivers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season.