Behind the scenes at the Australian Grand Prix

COVID-19 may have forced the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 Australian Grand Prix, but the excitement of Formula 1 returned to Melbourne this year, with the race attracting a record crowd of 419,114 over the four-day event. Supply Chain Insights talks to Matthew Walton, General Manager Design and Construction for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, to understand the logistics required to stage Australia’s largest pop-up event.

Like the Formula 1 cars competing at the Albert Park Circuit, the logistics supporting this year’s race required careful planning and faultless execution.

“The transition between 2020 and 2022 was remarkable, with the uplift in sales and build growing by over 30 per cent,” says Matthew. “Traditionally, the grandstand seated 27,000, but capacity increased to 39,000 this year. The tickets were sold over a weekend and, incredibly, both days were sold out in an hour.”

The challenges of a greenfield site

Scaling up the event came with a range of logistical challenges. “In the past, we created the event and then modified it in following years,” Matthew explains. “In 2022, we didn’t take a cookie-cutter approach; we saw an opportunity to redesign and rebuild.”

Matthew identifies this year’s change of date as the biggest logistical challenge. “The race, traditionally a March event, was moved to mid-April. This changed the occupation period and the post-race remediation program. My role is not only to build and dismantle but also to return the park to its original condition. The logistical complexities include managing our stakeholder engagement with all parties, and that's quite a complex beast.”

A further challenge was the track was located in a public park, so it had to be built within a public space. “We work closely with sporting clubs, the community, and tenants in the park to minimise our impact. The complexities are predominantly around fields and ovals where sports are played throughout the year, in winter and summer”.

Trucking requirements

A 34,000 square-meter storage yard located at Tottenham housed the race’s infrastructure, overpasses, and some operational assets.

“The distance between Tottenham and Albert Park is about 20 minutes on a good day, but the Westgate Bridge can be a real challenge,” he says. “The road network is extremely difficult, especially as our debris fencing is over height. Although in previous years we drove down Canterbury Road with only inches between the debris fencing and the wires, there are tram lines situated there now. That was always the best route, but it became too hard in the last two years, so we’ve changed our route.”

There were approximately 4,700 truck movements back and forth over the West Gate Bridge during the 12-week build. Around 19,300 tons of assets were delivered to Albert Park at event time and then returned to Tottenham, so the logistics involved in that volume of trucking is massive. Because traffic conditions between Tottenham and Lakeside vary, people had to communicate in real-time to delay trucks or bring them forward.

“We moved 3,500 concrete track barriers, each weighing five tons, but one semi could only carry five barriers. Then you had the debris fence panels on top of that. In one stillage for debris fencing, the fencing used to stop the cars going into the spectators, there was 11 barriers per stillage, and one truck could only carry one stillage. There were 750 truckloads just to carry our debris fencing.

“We contracted supply with Linfox, our key logistics arm. Linfox has a well-oiled machine that starts in week seven. And when I talk about week seven, I work backwards. Week twelve's the start of our build, week one is the end of our build, and then we have event week. Week seven is when the track build commences. During that period, Linfox built up the number of trucks, as governed by our track build schedule.

“We had a detailed program specifically for the barrier install because of our occupation program and because we couldn’t just go into the park and drop barriers and debris fencing wherever we like.

“There were road closures to work through. We worked with Parks Victoria because they are the land manager who manages the roads in Albert Park. We also engaged with VicRoads to ensure there are appropriate closures in place to ensure Lakeside Drive was managed while we completed the build.

Freight arrived by sea and air

This year’s Grand Pix required approximately 900 tons of air freight, which equates to nine jumbo jets. The Formula 1 organisation flies in around 200 tons, including broadcast equipment and an estimated 500 tons of sea freight.

“You can imagine the logistics from an F1 team perspective. They arrive, set up, run their race, they pack up and fly out that night. Their air freight follows, arriving in the next country over the next couple of days and then they'll start building again. It's just one big travelling roadshow circus.”

“Our freight consultant, Gibson Freight, brings 40 footers in and side lifts them into pit lane. DHL, an F1 freight supplier, unloads those containers and moves all those boxes, fuel and catering equipment into the respective areas within the Formula 1 paddock.

“That part of the puzzle is completed by the Friday or Saturday of week one, and then the air freight follows quickly after that. The main straight was taken over.

“The fundamental change we made in 2022 was closing the main straight. The freight operation was becoming too large to allow the public to drive past in a single lane. The risk associated with managing freight, forklifts, team operations and so forth became too great.

“The cars used to arrive fully built, and it was so exciting when the delivery was shown on the news. Now they are packed away in boxes in bits and pieces and rapidly built once the garages are done.”

“There's a rotation between Gibson Freight and our logistics arm, Cameron's Transport; they work hand in hand. One drives the trucks, and the other coordinates the freight handling, transportation and customs elements that allow the freight to enter the country.

Technology is key

Matthew engaged IDM as the project manager to facilitate the management of the suppliers on the ground. IDM use a range of tools within its system. The company has created its own internal system, FMS, which is a facility management software. This is more about inventory than logistical scheduling, and they use Gantt charts, Excel, Smartsheets.

Linfox also had a scheduler at the Tottenham storage yard who took a direct hands-on approach, communicating with the onsite team and then coordinating the timing and the delivery of assets to the park. There was a program created in a Smartsheet form showing the schedule of the build; then, between the scheduler and the team on site, assets were transferred accordingly.

Lessons learned

Matthew says the most significant lesson from this year’s race is the need to be adaptable and smarter when an event grows. “We've learned to adapt within the business, probably less about the logistics and more about the venue operation. We've learned how to redesign a venue to accommodate the growth and popularity of the event. We have consolidated the learnings from 2022, particularly around venue capacities, how to move people around the venue, and have appropriate amenities and food and beverage.”