Ecclestone, 77, had already been told by the Melbourne race's promoters, the AGPC and the Victorian state government, that they will not be ceding to his pressure to floodlight the Albert Park circuit at their own expense.
"The only way the race could stay in Melbourne, or anywhere else in Australia, is if it is staged during the night so that the public in Europe can watch it," Ecclestone says.
He says staging the race at night will mean that F1's key audience - television viewers in Europe - no longer need to be up in the dead of the night to watch the first grand prix of the season.
"At the moment, it is ridiculous that people are asked not to sleep in order to see it live. That can't carry on. The alternative is to pull the race completely from Australia," Bernie added.
Reader Comments
Sun Mar 9 2008 8:53 PM
mark says
Bernie Ecclestone is a OLD FOOL. F1 was the worlds best open wheel form of the motorsport but seems Bernie Ecclestone want its to be just a european based race now. Oh well at 77 yo it wont be long before he is gone.
Sun Mar 9 2008 9:18 PM
Sir Yappie says
As an Australian (and slightly biased but a fan of the sport) i have to say that Bernie is a tosser of the highest order. By making the race a night race he caters for the European market, yet the night / middle of the morning races in Europe that are televised here are not a problem for us as it is the way it is and we are prepared to put up with it. If the rest of the world cant put up with 1 race being at an odd time then they can go stuff themselves. I guess it will now be renamed too, as the European F1, as it will no longer be the world championships...the guy is a w*nker and the quicker the sport gets rid of him the better for fans.
Mon Mar 10 2008 1:51 AM
bambam says
Timing is essential, as last year the Melbourne F1 was competing against the swimming and tennis I think. Its not about changing the time to night race for EU watchers. The survival of F1 in Melbourne is based on its earnings. If it keeps running at a loss, which local person would care if the EU gets to watch the favourite show in their time period or late at night. The decisions to go to night was base on crowd attendance not a fat ass sitting in an armchair.
or maybe the local television channel should charge more for its transmission. A lot of people here stay up late or get up earlier for the premiership football. For the people involve in the management of this certain race, its up to them to bring in the cash and add the numbers. Otherwise I agree that it should go somewhere else or to someone else.
its been great and hopefully they can keep it here.
Mon Mar 10 2008 5:01 AM
danny says
Are they going to force the malaysian, japan and chinese grand prix to go to a night race. The singapore F1 GP is at night time. Race starts at 8pm singapore time in september which is european autunm and i think that would be around the middle of the day in europe. My guess is that on a sunday in autunm in europe and uk most of there target audience will out doing something else than watching TV. Possibly involved in local motorsports or enjoying the last nice days before the winter weather arrives. I guess for the Australian Grand Prix which is held during the early european Spring time most pepole will still be staying indoors because of the cold weather. I say put it back to the last race of the season in adelaide or even better send it to Perth and they can use some of there money from mining royalties to make it a night race. Oh i Just realised it is still light here in Perth till nearly 8pm in early summer and 9pm in mid summer who needs lights. Just start it at 6pm in perth. Same as 8pm in Melbourne
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