Australian GP 'least viable' on calendar - Ecclestone

This is getting beyond a joke, Ecclestone needs to go soon, seriously man.
Australia is a very iconic track, seriously get rid of it? if anything bahrain should go!


Bernie Ecclestone has warned organisers of the Australian Grand Prix that their event is currently the "least viable" on the calendar.

Speculation over the future of the race has been rife for several years, with concerns about the cost of setting the race up each year and vocal opposition from certain members of the Victorian state parliament. Last year Ecclestone gave local fans hope when he said "Australia is just as important to us as Monaco and has been for an awful long time," but he now appears to have changed his mind.

"We have a contract which we will respect - so up until 2015 we are in good shape," Ecclestone told The Age on Wednesday. "After then, we really don't know. If we were to have a divorce from our friends in Melbourne we would probably be walking away from Australia. Because I can't see how Adelaide could make it happen, or anywhere else, if Melbourne can't. The race itself, from our point of view, is probably the least viable of all the races we have."
He said the grand prix would have to continue to make financial sense to Formula One's owners with potential venues emerging away from Formula One's traditional destinations.

"We have other races ready to take the place of Australia - which we don't want to happen. But it would be wrong of me to have to report to our board, 'Terribly sorry about this but we have to walk away from wherever to retain Australia'.''


source
 
Just to help clarify a bit,i will try and give a "Ecclestone Translation",replace the word "Viable" with the words "Easier to sqeeze every last penny for maximum profits from",and then you clearly see Bernies new freinds in the middle east and far east are indeed very "Viable".....
 
You are missing the point of what he's saying.

F1 wants to break new ground and fans by going to Russia.
The best thing would be to have a Russian in F1 when that happens.

Australia has already been established a long time ago.
 
Bernie has been putting the squeeze on Australia to go to night racing since the first overseas F1night race a few years back.
My thinking is this is just another tactic to get it to happen, then it happens at a better time for European TV viewers & more money for Bernie....
The problem is the Melbourne track is only used once a year so it would be a HUGE loss of money for the Victorian organizers to go down that road only to have Bernie most likely to fail to renew the contract in 15years.
Really, to be financially viable, Australia should stop digging itself into a financial hole with all these single event street circuits we have for this & other events.
We don't have the population to make it viable & the only winners are the people that use them (the series organizers) once a year, the rest of the motorsport community suffers for it in that the money could've instead been used for permanent circuits & supporting grass roots racing, but instead lines the fat cats pockets....
I really can't see a good cure for all here besides maybe Australia/Victoria refusing Bernie a contract renewal when the time comes (or breathing a sigh of relief when he decides to move on!) & then try & rebuild the foundations of Australian Motorsport with a new track or two....
You never know, with a quality full-time venue, possibly even with his much wanted night lighting, & a few years break, Bernie (or his successor) & Co. would probably be begging to come back by then!
Then again, Eastern Creek is currently getting an upgrade, how about F1 & MotoGP there, OR Phillip Island under his precious lights?
Imagine the speeds those F1 cars would be pulling pouring into turn1 at PI....
Although, having it under lights would sure deter a lot of spectators I'd imagine, not that Bernie would mind, what with all the bonus TV rights & revenue!
 
According to Bernie's logic, we also need a Finnish GP and a Venezuelan GP. But not a German or French GP because there are too many Germans and French, of course. :rolleyes:
And we don't have a French GP :D
The difference though is that it's not very far for French people to go to the Italian/British/Spanish/German/European GPs. However, the closest GPs to Australia are Singapore and Malaysia, which are 6-8+ hours from the SE of Australia... Even if it was a New Zealand GP, that wouldn't be so bad, because it's a lot closer, both geographically and through relationships with the country.
 
I would be sad to see the event go from Australia, but given the current climate of unrest down in Melbourne I believe that come the end of the contract F1 will probably look elsewhere. F1 currently seems to be chasing dollars, and there is definetly more dollars to be had elsewhere.

Qatar will probably be hosting f1 by 2018 on a Tilke drome as usual.
 

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