The planned onsale was delayed by a day after the ticketing platform experienced a global outage, blamed on a “third-party”.
“Prior to yesterday’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix 2025 general public onsale, we were made aware of an issue with a global third-party web infrastructure provider that affected our queue management systems,” Ticketmaster confirmed in a statement to Speedcafe.
“This outage would have hindered our ability to provide a smooth onsale for fans, so therefore the decision was made to postpone the general public sale until tomorrow Wednesday 9 October 12pm (AEDT).
“This outage has since been resolved and all systems are currently working as expected. We thank fans for their patience during this time.”
Ticketmaster bills itself as “the world’s leading ticketing agent and one of the largest eCommerce platforms in the world today.”
Fans were left furious when organisers of the Australian Grand Prix announced the delay at 12:10 AEDT yesterday, 10 minutes after sales were scheduled to open.
A ‘waiting room’ for fans ready to by tickets opened at 11:00.
“Due to a global third-party outage, the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix 2025 general public onsale will be delayed until tomorrow, Wednesday 9 October 12pm (AEDT).,” the Australian Grand Prix announced on social media.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.”
Ticketmaster is primarily owned by Liberty Media, which also holds the commercial rights to Formula 1.
It has come under fire on several fronts, largely to due its position within the market.
That has led to the United States Department of Justice filing a lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster over anti-competitive behaviour.
A key area of concern about the platform is that, owing to its market position, it has no incentive to innovate or improve the consumer experience, leading to situations like yesterday’s.
Pre-sales opened last week for Access24 members while those who’d signed up for to a pre-sale ballot had their chance on Monday.
Demand for the event was predicted to be high, with Australian GP boss Travis Auld telling Speedcafe ahead of the onsale date that Ticketmaster witnessed more than 100,000 fans in the queue for tickets last year.
“That’s particularly unprecedented in the major event space,” he said.
He also acknowledged that some fans will be left disappointed as demand for tickets outstrips supply.
Fans have also raised concerns about the dynamic pricing model in place for some tickets.
Public resale is restricted by law to 10 percent higher than the face value of the ticket, however, as the event promoter, the Australian Grand Prix is not bound to that limitation.
That has seen it employ ‘on demand’ pricing where, in some instances, tickets are only available at inflated prices. That practice, viewed by many as price gouging, will remain in place this year.
Sales are set to open at noon, AEDT.
Discussion about this post