Bernie Ecclestone may say that the F-1 teams and drivers don’t really care if the Australian Grand Prix does not continue after the current contract expires in 2010. But the reality is that they love this event and this country.
Ecclestone’s remark was merely part of his negotiation strategy. He says the race must be held at night in the future so that it can be televised at a civilized hour back in Europe. The government of the state of Victoria, which funds the race, says it will not stage the event at night. The organizers are willing to push the start time back to 5 p.m., but Bernie wants 7 p.m.
So it is a standoff for now.
Ask anybody in the F-1 fraternity to make a short list of their favorite race venues, and Australia’s Melbourne will be on just about all of them. It certainly is on mine.
During the weekend I asked around, and here is what various people had to say about this race.
Heikki Kovalainen: “For me it’s great. Coming from Finland, I get a bit of sun tan over here at this time of the year. This is a great country. I’ve always loved to come to Australia, so I hope we keep the race in Australia.”
Jenson Button: “This is a perfect setting for the first race of the season.”
Giancarlo Fisichella: “I really like this country. There is a fantastic atmosphere around the town. I’ve got great memories of Melbourne, first of all, my first race in 1996, and my winning race in 2005. So I’ve got a great feeling from the circuit, with the atmosphere in the town. There are very good restaurants around, so it would be nice to keep coming here in the future.”
McLaren team principal Ron Dennis: “I love Australia. I have good friends here. It is nice to start the season in warm weather.”
Rubens Barrichello: “Melbourne is good to everyone. It is far [from Europe], but it is a great place to come.”
Mercedes-Benz racing boss Norbert Haug: “We like to be here. It is not in our hands, but we hope we will have this race for years. I am 100 percent sure that it is good value for money. [Promoter] Ron Walker and his team are doing a great job. They know that the season opener is very important. It is publicized worldwide. The fact is that the worldwide exposure that Australia gets as the season opener is clearly worth the investment.”
Mark Webber: “Of course I would be disappointed if it left Australia. It’s a long way from Europe, but once everyone gets here and everyone gets settled in, it’s a very, very good event. It’s a safe city as well. Not all the cities that we go to are massively safe, so we can just go and relax and enjoy it.”
John Brumby, the Premier of the state of Victoria, isn’t going to negotiate the future of the race with Ecclestone via the media.
“I’m not in the business, really, of wanting to run a public debate with Bernie Ecclestone about the Grand Prix,” Brumby told reporters. “There are ways of negotiating these issues and we’ll sit down with him at the appropriate time and negotiate the issues, but I don’t intend to do it publicly.”
Ecclestone did not come to Melbourne. No doubt he wanted to avoid an endless barrage of questions.
There are some residents of Melbourne who would be happy to see the race disappear and the government spend its money elsewhere. But if the race does not come back in 2011 there will be plenty of disappointed people as well, be they from Australia or from across the pond.