Melbourne race boss wary of Sydney bid for GP

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The city of Sydney is said to be considering a future bid to take over as the venue for the Australian Grand Prix, which is currently held in Melbourne.

According to reports in the Herald Sun newspaper, the current boss of the event in Melbourne fears that his rivals in Sydney are planning to take advantage of the change in ownership of the sport to try and take over as hosts once the current contract expires.

"It wouldn't surprise me," Andrew Westacott told reporters. "The world of events is very competitive."

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Last year, Melbourne agreed an extension with then-CEO Bernie Ecclestone to the current contract. That ensured that the Grand Prix stayed in the city through to at least 2023, and Westacott confirmed that there was no question that the race would stay put for the next seven years.

But he admitted that Melbourne would have to impress new owners Liberty Media Group if it was to have a chance of holding on to the race after that.

"I would expect the new owners will be here to see how we do it and have a look at one of the very best formula one events in the world," Westacott said.

Melbourne's Albert Park street circuit has hosted the Australian Grand Prix since 1996. before that, it was staged in the city of Adelaide for 11 years beginning with the event's first appearance on the Formula One calendar in 1985.

Prior to its inclusion in the Formula One world championship, the race was held at a multitude of venues in every state of Australia including Phillip Island, Bathurst, Warwick Park, Oran Park, and Calder Park Raceway.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.