F1 supremo presses Australia for night GP

The Straits Times, May 20, 2007


MELBOURNE - FORMULA One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has warned that the Australian Grand Prix will be moved overseas unless the race is held at night in a move designed to boost global television ratings, reports said on Sunday.

Melbourne's contract to host the Australian GP expires in 2010 but Mr Ecclestone is pressing organisers to stage the race around the Albert Park street circuit under lights.

'Unless they (organisers) can come up with something satisfactory, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be able to continue there,' Mr Ecclestone said.

But the newspaper says that Australian event organisers do not see a night race as a priority.

'I don't think it is going to happen,' one insider said. 'To have F1 cars hooning (roaring) around Albert Park at 9pm (7pm Singapore time) won't go down well with the locals and it's a family event, so afternoon is obviously the ideal time.'

At the time of the last Australian GP in March Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Ron Walker insisted Mr Ecclestone was not delivering Australian race organisers with an ultimatum on night racing.

'I am not saying for a minute it is going to happen but you have got to consider all things to improve the sport,' Mr Walker said.

He added that there was much work to be done before any decision was taken, including conducting a feasibility study to determine whether the circuit could be sufficiently lit to safely hold a F1 race.

The Australian GP has been hemorrhaging financially since it was shifted from Adelaide in 1996, with one economist estimating the race would lose more than A$230 million(S$289 million) by the time the current contract expires in 2010.

Reports said the Australian race's television audience around the world has fallen from 339 million in 1999 to 82 million.

The Victorian state government, which financially underpins the GP in Melbourne, said no negotiations on switching to a night race were underway. -- AFP