Australian Grand Prix race moved again?

Barely had the first day of the Australian Grand Prix concluded, and the weather was the focus of discussion. While both FP1 and practice took place calmly on Friday, concerns centered around Sunday's forecast. A scenario reminiscent of the 2023 edition.

Currently, predictions vary from hour to hour, making it impossible to make a decision on Sunday's race. However, they are sufficiently negative to raise questions in the paddock about the safety of holding a race at this point in the weekend. In his Friday debriefing, Pecco Bagnaia insisted: "I think a good solution will be to do the long race tomorrow, and we will talk about the safety conditions." As these lines are written, it is night in Australia. If there is a change, it won't be announced until late morning local time. Everything indicates that after the Qualifying results, a decision will be made in consultation with the various stakeholders in the discipline. That would be 02:00 a.m. in France.

This last-minute change had already been made in 2023, with the race being brought forward to Saturday and the Sprint canceled. The spectacle was still there, and Johann Zarco took his first victory in MotoGP at the end of a test full of twists and turns.

A necessary change for the Australian GP?

Beyond the simple decision, a repeat of the scenario two years later raises questions. Should the Australian Grand Prix change its slot? Remember that before the event was held at Phillip Island (since 1997), it was held at Eastern Creek. Except for the last edition of the event (1996), it was held between March and April. A period when the weather is more clement.

However, since its arrival at Phillip Island, the championship has been striving to schedule the round in October, a time when conditions are often unstable. This is evidenced by the strong winds that hit the drivers on the circuit, which also has an impact on the temperature differences from one day to the next. For example, this edition saw temperatures drop by nearly 20 degrees between Thursday and Friday. This affects both drivers and tires.

Moving the Grand Prix to the beginning of the year is not impossible; it has already been done. The very first race at Phillip Island, in 1989, hosted the discipline on the weekend of April 9. What was then the second round of the season was won by local rider Wayne Gardner. However, the desire to regionalize the MotoGP calendar, and therefore to bring together the Asian rounds, is contradictory to this possibility. In the Superbike World Championship, the Australian round, which has inaugurated the championships for several years, is already held in February (from the 21st to the 23rd in 2025).

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