Australian Grand Prix

FIA announce new speed limit verdict at Australian GP

Kerry Violet Thursday 5 March 2026 07:45 Updated: 09:50

Photo: © IMAGO

F1's governing body, the FIA, have announced their verdict on altering an official speed limit at the Albert Park Circuit for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

Ahead of the opening round of the F1 2026 championship, reports began circulating that the pit lane speed limit would be dropped to 60km/h to accommodate for the additional garage, freight and hospitality demands created by the addition of an 11th team on in the grid in the form of Cadillac.

This wasn't helped by the fact that chief events officer for the Australian GP Tom Mottram told media that Cadillac's arrival to F1 had made squeezing them in quite a challenge at Albert Park, admitting: "Our pit building and pit lane are probably one of the smaller ones on the calendar at the moment, so we've done a lot of work with F1 throughout the year since we've known the 11th team is coming on board."

Confusion only continued to build around the mixed reports, reportedly leading F1 teams to contact race control for clarity on the matter due to the potential impact it could have on their strategy.

But it has now been revealed by The Race that the FIA have landed on a verdict of no pit lane speed reduction ahead of this weekend's race in Melbourne, with the limit remaining unchanged at 80km/h for the first race of the new season.

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Why is there a pit lane speed limit in F1?

In the past, an F1 car has been proven to be capable of reaching top speeds of 378km/h (234.9mph) in the hands of Valtteri Bottas, who hit the highest speed ever officially recorded across an F1 race weekend during qualifying for the 2016 European GP in Baku.

But 2026 has seen a major regulations overhaul of both the chassis and power unit regulations, with four-time champion Max Verstappen issuing fears that the cars would now be slower and more like 'Formula E on steroids' due to the increased focus on electrical energy.

This wasn't helped when ex-F1 driver and Formula E star Lucas di Grassi added fuel to the concerns, writing on social media: "He [Verstappen] is correct. F1 should focus on performance. But they got it wrong. They created a regulation that made the car slow and with low performance in one lap."

"Now, Formula E is going to be faster than Formula 1 in a few years on a lap in Monaco. And what's more, it's going to be *waaay* faster."

But regardless of what the drivers may say, and whether F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is going to action any of their concerns in the near future, the new machinery is still capable of hitting pretty rapid top speeds.

As a result, a pit lane speed limit is still more than necessary to prevent incidents occurring when the drivers bring their cars into the pits, something which has previously caused injury to mechanics now and again.

Where the drivers are concerned, there have also been plenty of examples of an unsafe release from various team garages in recent seasons, something which can already lead to penalties and damage to the machinery which would only be worsened if there was no pit lane speed limit.

Can F1 drivers be fined for speeding in the pit lane?

In 2026, drivers are still at risk of being fined for speeding in the pit lane.

If a driver exceeds the pit lane speed limit during a race weekend session, it is their team who may be fined, with the financial punishment decided using a sliding scale based on how far over the limit the driver has gone and therefore, how dangerous the infringement was.

Last season, ex-Alpine star Jack Doohan, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli and Williams star Carlos Sainz all fell victim to the FIA's rulebook, with fines handed to their respective teams for speeding in the pits.

Doohan and Sainz picked up a €1000 fine, whilst Antonelli was let off with €100 for speeding at the Japanese GP, despite only exceeding the speed limit by 0.9kph.

But it goes the other way too and F1's governing body can also issue fines for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit lane if it is deemed to be a dangerous action.