Melbourne has hosted the Australian Grand Prix since 1996. That is eighteen years of sporting history, tradition, and a whole lot of tourism for the state of Victoria.
Melbourne is contracted to host the Formula One Grand Prix until 2015, being the 66th season of the event.
Where the Formula One Australian Grand Prix is going to be held in 2016 remains a mystery. However, a majority of stakeholders and spectators are begging to ask why does it have to change at all?
Hosting the race is not cheap. It is said to cost up to $50 million to hold the entire event. However, President and CEO of Formula One Bernie Ecclestone stated on the second of March that the Grand Prix is set to stay in Melbourne, saying a new contract will be signed.
Like any major sporting event, it is obvious that this prestigious, petrol-pumped global racing event brings in a highly significant amount of revenue and awareness of Melbourne as a city with jobs, tourism profits and unique global branding.
It is also seems to have a special place in Bernie Ecclestone’s heart, as he said recently that “We’re happy with Melbourne, they seem to be happy with us, so I suppose it will be all right”. However, when we place the economic benefits side by side with the cost, the revenue is seen as trifling.
The Victorian government claims the subsidy is worth it, because the annual economic benefits from the race are estimated to be between $32 million to $39 million dollars. To add a slice of controversy, an in-depth analysis completed by consulting firm Economists at Large found that known benefits were said to have overestimated effects. Aspects such as tourism, international media publicity and consumer surplus really only had a benefit of $5 million.
For many years, the NSW government has been putting some serious feelers out as a prospect to take the Grand Prix to Sydney.
A tactical promise of a night race was projected to capture surly Bernie’s attention in 2010, yet public backlash to this suggestion surrounded the fact that night races already exist and that it would ‘ruin the novelty’.
The two competing options of Homebush and an overhauled Eastern Creek have so far somewhat struggled to seize the FIA’s attention. Albert Park is praised as a perfectly decent permanent track (rather than what would be a city circuit if it were in Sydney), however many acknowledge its downfall in its lack of overtaking opportunities.
Albert Park has other qualities that have been highlighted such as runoff, gravel traps and tire barriers. It is also acknowledged as a reasonable margin wider than other tracks, even Monaco. Talk of the race returning to its Australian origin of Adelaide are more often than not dismissed due to various reasons, one specifically being that most of the circuit consisted of ninety-degree bends.
It is obvious that the majority of the public and the FIA consider Albert Park to be a very suitable location, even with the contract ending so soon.
The Formula One Grand Prix that Australia has hosted every year since 1985 is an event that is held dearly to most F1 fanatics’ hearts. Melbourne, the new up and coming city of culture revels in the events of the Grand Prix and the partying and novelties that surround it.
Melbourne really is considered the Monaco of Australia, the prestige and culture-driven city that has attention drawn to it as it hosts the season opener every year.
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