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Travis Auld CA isn’t scared to take the inside lane when he sees it. It’s a philosophy the CEO of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation has held since his very first job.

Straight out of Melbourne’s La Trobe University, a friend passed up a graduate role at William Buck that interested Auld. Sensing an opportunity, he contacted a partner at the firm, David Ashmore, who was “surprised” but agreed to meet him. Needless to say, Auld impressed and secured the spot at the company that would become Grant Thornton. From there, the young chartered accountant was off.

“I think there’s been a theme throughout my career, which is that I’ve always been one to take risks and be open about my career path,” Auld tells Acuity. “I’ve never had a defined career path. I know the things that interest me. I know the sort of environments where I do well.”

Auld’s career has certainly been a wide-ranging one and he has never shied away from a more challenging next step: from COO of the Essendon Football Club to the inaugural CEO of the Gold Coast Suns, and then CFO and AFL’s executive general manager finance, Clubs and Broadcast.

Essentially, Auld left a footballing powerhouse to take over a startup, vaulted into the AFL head office and then ejected himself from the sport altogether.

“It’s always been that willingness to just take a risk to put myself out there and I think that’s what’s led me where I am today,” says Auld. “Don’t be too prescriptive about opportunities that come up. The ability, particularly early on in your career, to sometimes move sideways and gain additional skills is really valuable later on in your career.”

That upwardly mobile thinking has propelled him into his most high-profile position yet. The Australian Grand Prix Corporation stages the prestigious Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, the Australian fixture on a glamorous F1 calendar that also includes the scenic streetscape of Monaco and the British jewel at Silverstone. The organisation also runs the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) at Phillip Island, a race dating back to 1989.

“Since I’ve stepped into the world of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, and Formula 1 and MotoGP, I have developed a better understanding of the international sporting landscape,” says Auld, who happily acknowledges the tremendous growth. “One day we could have 135,000 people in the park.”

Formula for success: a new audience

No single sporting event in Australia has undergone a revolution quite like the Australian Grand Prix. It’s riding worldwide fervour, powered at least in part by the success of Netflix’s documentary series Drive to Survive that launched in 2019 and is now in its eighth season. Public perception of Formula 1 has shifted from a males-only event to a plugged-in, pop-culture phenomenon. It has shaken off tired stereotypes and marketed itself to an evolving audience.

“We see that here in Melbourne, where the demographic of our fan base has completely changed. At the 2025 event, 46% of our attendees were female,” says Auld. “That’s a massive opportunity for us. I think it says a lot about Melbourne and Victoria. It has a significant impact on the event offering.”

This shift is also visible on the pit wall with the 2018 introduction of young racers from karting and junior series dubbed ‘grid kids’, and figures like Silvia Hoffer Frangipane, the no-nonsense head of communications at Ferrari, who moved closer to centre stage, negotiating the high-drama switch from former champion, Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, to then up-and-coming Spanish driver Carlos Sainz on the screens of Netflix.

In a sport where title runs begin in backrooms, that was no small feat. Red Bull senior strategy engineer Hannah Schmitz has been integral during the team’s Max Verstappen-led dynasty and this year, Haas’s Laura Mueller became the sport’s first female race engineer.

“I think it’s been one of the more dramatic shifts in sport globally and certainly in the last four or five years, particularly coming out of COVID, and Drive to Survive has played a significant role in that,” says Auld. “Globally, F1 is becoming more female, younger, more family orientated.”

For the Melbourne community, no name draws more attention now, or likely will for the next decade, than hometown hero Oscar Piastri. The 24-year-old McLaren driver became a bona fide superstar as he fought 27-year-old British teammate Lando Norris in last season’s drivers’ standings and he is yet to reach the peak of his powers. Auld knows it will be Piastri’s name ringing the loudest again around Albert Park in March 2026.

“In Oscar’s case, a Melbourne boy representing us on the global stage brings with it an enormous asset for us at the Grand Prix,” says Auld, likening it to Aussie legends Casey Stoner and Mick Doohan in MotoGP, as well as Mark Webber in the 2000s. “In 2026, for the first time we have an Oscar Piastri Grandstand and it was the first grandstand to sell out. So, that’s an insight into the fandom that’s building around Oscar.”

Race strategy: data-driven decisions

When it comes to how his chartered accountant education informs his leadership at the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, Auld says it is inextricably linked to his consistent mantra of always bringing it back to the numbers.

“While intuition is important and a skill that we should never lose sight of, all decisions should be supported by data,” says Auld. “All those decisions are underpinned by data and analytics, whether that be for our ticketing strategies, infrastructure, new infrastructure decisions, introduction of new products, how we segment our audience or how we manage crowd flows.”

This is especially important at the Albert Park Circuit, where temporary stands are installed each year for a race held largely on public roads. While the famous inner-circuit lake has become part of the furniture for Australian fans, it is relatively unique on the world stage to hold a race next to a large body of water, which impacts the allocated space for spectators.

The Phillip Island MotoGP track, not to be outdone, matches idyllic views of Bass Strait with tundra-like winds, creating a one-of-a-kind atmosphere that competitors and fans alike have warmed to, with the venue being known as a ‘riders’ track’.

Navigating these elements gives a more logistical bent to Auld’s role, who coordinates global stakeholders. “You have a responsibility to make sure that you present that sport and allow people access to their sport, and that’s something that’s not lost on me,” Auld says.

In past roles, Auld has had to start from the very beginning, both in the back office and on the field. This was most evident at the Gold Coast Suns, where he started with a “complete blank canvas”. The Suns was one of the most ambitious projects in AFL history and, in 2011, it became the first new team to join the league in 16 years.

In many ways, the Suns outfit bore the brunt of the trial-by-fire induction, with the Greater Western Sydney Giants joining 12 months later, and the team showed enormous resilience in those early years. Heading into the 2026 season, the Damien Hardwick-coached Suns are among the premiership favourites.

“The need to develop a strategy and a business model was one of the first tasks and one of the fundamental capabilities in establishing the Gold Coast Suns,” says Auld. “Having had training as a chartered accountant, and understanding some of the structures and fundamentals that underpin building a business model to fund our way through the startup phase, was critical for the club’s long-term success.”

“While intuition is important and a skill that we should never lose sight of, all decisions should be supported by data.”

Striving for excellence

A state government media release stated the 2025 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix contributed in excess of A$268 million to the Victorian economy and supported more than 1145 full-time jobs. It has grown year-on-year, and is competing with the likes of the Australian Open and respective AFL and NRL grand finals as Australia’s number one sports event, but Auld assures that he is not overly competitive in that sense.

“I would say that we see ourselves as part of a powerful global sporting landscape, representing Victoria and Australia,” says Auld. “You’ll find that in most sorts of events you attend, there’s something you can learn.”

Auld maintains a strong interest in international Formula 1 and MotoGP races, with the ambition of bringing the best initiatives back home. He strongly believes that Australia can become a global motorsport epicentre and his desire to achieve that echoes the advice he would give to all chartered accountants.

“You’re capable of more than what you probably believe,” he says. “The main advice I would give is just to back yourself.”

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Fun facts

When did the first F1 Grand Prix take place?

The first world championship race took place at Silverstone Circuit in the UK on 13 May 1950.

When was the first Australian Grand Prix?

Despite holding races in Australia as early as 1928, the first official Australian Grand Prix became a round of the FIA F1 World Championship on 3 November 1985, with the last race of the season held in Adelaide.

How many teams are in F1 in 2026?

Twenty-two drivers make the 2026 line-up across 11 teams.

How long is one lap at Albert Park?

One lap of Melbourne's Albert Park circuit is 5.278km.

What is the Albert Park race lap record?

The official lap record is 1 min, 19.813 secs, set by Charles Leclerc, driving for Ferrari in 2024.

What is the highest speed recorded by an F1 driver in Australia?

The highest official speed on record is 333km/hr, recorded by Charles Leclerc, driving for Ferrari in 2025.

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