Australian GP Boss Backfires at Melbourne Mayor

This past weekend has been quite hard on the organizers of the Australian F1 Grand Prix, as they had to face public criticism from the very lord mayor of Melbourne, Robert Doyle. Writing in the Herald Sun's Sunday edition, Doyle stressed the fact that the event has brought nothing but holes in the state budget and that it's no longer value for money.

“The big stumbling block ... is the cost to the Victorian taxpayer,” wrote Doyle, suggesting that the best solution for Melbourne is to terminate the deal that runs out at the end of 2014. “In 1996 when the race was a combination of a four-day event and corporate sponsorship was far more generous than it is today, the race still needed to be underwritten by about $1.7 million. Last year it was $50 million.”

However, if there is one thing Australian grand prix boss Ron Walker won't do is go down without fighting, and event organizer backfired at the ideas expressed by the lord mayor in his column. While not denying the $50 million fee, Walker underlined the positive aspects of having a GP organized in the state of Victoria.

“It's a sad thing for the mayor of a major capital city to come out so publicly against a major event like the grand prix,” Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Walker told local radio 3AW.

“On the other side... there's an economic benefit of around $160 million. All of Mr Doyle's hotels, all of his restaurants do a very good trade. Then of course there's the tax that's collected of about $18 million a year. It's a huge profit for Melbourne.”

Unfortunately for Walker, mayor Doyle is not the only one thinking this way about the future of the race at Albert Park, as recently new Victorian premier Ted Baillieu insisted a cut needs to be made to the $50 million bill from Bernie Ecclestone in order for the event to keep going from 2014 onwards.