Behind every Formula 1 champion is a skilled pit crew working to support the driver’s performance.
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) follows this same principle by partnering with Travellers Aid to deliver a more accessible and inclusive event.
The Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park is a headline event drawing fans to Melbourne from around the world. Attendance has grown in recent years, with an estimated attendance of over 465,000 across the 4-day event in 2025.
This increase may be partly attributable to AGPC’s increasing focus on accessibility and inclusion, particularly through its social procurement partnership with Travellers Aid.
Senior Manager, Customer Operations at AGPC, Greer Dutton says the site’s natural ground conditions, combined with the access to public transport has created challenges for fans wishing to attend the event.
Without the services Travellers Aid provides, many fans would simply not be able to attend the event,’ Greer says.
While its formal partnership with AGPC began in 2024, Travellers Aid was already assisting patrons around the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix event through its work with Yarra Trams and Wheelaway.
Greer says AGPC saw the value of combining Travellers Aid’s expertise with its own long-standing commitment to delivering inclusive, accessible experiences to all patrons.
She says AGPC entered a social procurement partnership with Travellers Aid to ‘enhance accessibility support at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, ensuring mobility-impaired attendees could fully participate and enjoy the event’.
Social procurement is a way organisations use their purchasing power to tackle bigger challenges like inequality and social exclusion. It doesn’t cost more. Businesses still buy what they need, but they consider where their money goes and what impact it creates beyond their immediate requirements.
Through its social procurement partnership with AGPC, Travellers Aid provides vital assistance to patrons travelling to and from public transport hubs, as well as navigating the venue.
This includes assisting fans to access ride share vehicles, access to and from tram stops, manual and electric wheelchair support, as well as buggy assistance.
Since 2024 the service has expanded to wheelchair assistance across key entrance gates and, for the first time in 2025, a dedicated buggy service and support for access to the on-site Accessibility Hub.
AGPC works with Travellers Aid to ensure they are included in all relevant event delivery meetings in the lead up to the event. This includes walk-throughs with all stakeholders who play a part in ensuring fans can enter and leave the venue safely and easily.
Internally, AGPC worked with their teams to explain the partnership and help everyone understand why Travellers Aid’s access and inclusion services are so important to the event.
In 2025, there was a 36% increase in fans assisted by Travellers Aid compared to the previous year. This figure represents hundreds of additional people who could fully
participate in one of Australia’s premier sporting events.
The feedback we receive from our fans is that without Travellers Aid they either wouldn’t be able to attend our event or their path of travel would be significantly more challenging,’ Greer says.
‘The integration with other stakeholders such as Yarra Trams and Wheelaway also plays an important part of the overall fan experience with transport continuing to be rated as an important factor in post event feedback.’
The partnership offers a social procurement roadmap for other event organisers. It shows how leadership, internal engagement and a shift in procurement thinking – together with the right social benefit teammate – can improve your event and create lasting community benefits.