To be more specific, Doyle made some comments recently regarding the possibility of terminating Melbourne's contract with the FOM from 2015 onwards (the date when the deal expires). In the process, he called Bernie “cranky” and suggested he may take “the dollars of either an Asian or oil-rich Middle Eastern state” to replace the Aussie GP.
Additionally, he suggested that organizing the Australian Grand Prix is no longer value for money for the taxpayers in the region, especially since the state of Victoria has to come up with $50 million every year as a fee to organize the race.
“If the mayor thinks I'm cranky, I can probably be able to help him by proving it. If he's not happy with the event in Australia, if he wants to cancel the contract, we'd be happy to talk to him about that,” Ecclestone responded when talking to the local radio 3AW.
Additionally, the 80-year old Englishman suggested that Australia's fate in F1 is worse as it is, since the race already has a shady future to begin with. However, his personal take would be to stay, unless the local government has another take on it.
“I wouldn't say (it will stay) indefinitely. We've stayed an awful long time. There is no reason why we should leave. It's up to him, if he wants to talk about terminating the contract... he should talk to someone in our organisation and see what he can come up with.”
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