Melbourne: With the famous Albert Park in central Melbourne ready to host the the Australian Grand Prix (March 13-15) this weekend, Andrew Westacott, the CEO of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC), which organises the race, tells mid-day in an exclusive interview about the efforts that go into organising the first GP of the season and why he thinks local hero and Red Bull racer Daniel Ricciardo will rule.

Excerpts:

On setting a benchmark as the first F1 race of the season...
That's one of the many things that puts pressure on us because we want to benchmark ourselves as the best F1 event in the world. For that, we put as much pressure on ourselves as a F1 team's drivers, engineers and support staff etc, would.


AGPC CEO Andrew Westacott. Pic/Aashwin Ferro 

On the time taken for construction & preparatory work...
From a build point of view, it's an eight-week build and a four to five week dismantling of the whole structure. It's a street circuit around a park that is actually utilised by six million Melbournians each year. We close the park for one week only and in that one week, it's open for four days due to the race. So realistically, we only close the park for three days.