Following the loss of access to the pit lane and fans, the Supercars Championship is considering its future on the F1 Australian GP calendar. The Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park is one of the most iconic venues on the Formula One calendar, but Australia’s hallmark Supercars Championship has expressed concerns over their treatment ahead of the 2024 event. The 2024 Australian Grand Prix features a packed support-race schedule, with Formula 2 and Formula 3 in play, and Supercars have been ejected out of the second pit lane to make space for F2, placing Supercars workers in tents behind the facilities, with fans barred from entering the area.

This also implies there will be no pit stops throughout the SuperSprint round. And, this has prompted chief executive Shane Howard to state unequivocally that the situation must be examined, with a new agreement required to retain Supercars on the Australian Grand Prix schedule after 2024. This year will be a big change for us and we are working through that with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, Howard told the Herald Sun.

We would like to be in the pit lane but we acknowledge that Formula 2 is Formula 1’s primary support. I understand their process regarding it not being a general admission area because when you are trying to move race cars and lots of people in that area, it’s a recipe for a problem, Howard expressed.

But we have been working very closely with AGPC chief executive Travis Auld and his team and Travis has made it very clear that he wants us there and he will look to try and do everything we can to improve what we have so we can put on a good show. But we need to rectify this situation with the fans. Our fans need to be able to get access to our drivers and our teams. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to fix it this year but we are going to work together and see if we can fix this for the future, he further added.

We’ll need to work with the corporation to deliver on everybody’s expectations, be that our own being a championship round, being in a remote paddock, and giving the fans what they want – good racing and access to our category. We will need to sit down together and just see what we can do and then once we have debriefed with everybody, we can make a calculated decision, Howard concluded.