Mar.19 (GMM) South Australia’s premier has revealed he made a bold pitch to Formula 1 to bring a race back to the streets of Adelaide following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix.
Peter Malinauskas, who recently confirmed a deal with Liberty Media-owned MotoGP to bring international racing back to the capital, said he personally contacted F1’s CEO as soon as the escalating conflict in the Middle East forced the axing of the April events.
“I reached out to Stefano Domenicali,” he told Triple M.
“I’ve been working on this a little bit for a while, and when the events got cancelled because of the Iran war, I was straight on the phone to them.
“As soon as it became obvious they were not going to be racing in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, I was like, ‘Hello, this is an opportunity’.”
Malinauskas said South Australia was ready to move quickly despite the enormous logistical hurdles.
“I said, ‘Listen, I’ve got the team, they’ve worked the numbers. We can set the track up on these timelines,'” he explained.
Formula 1 ultimately declined the proposal, with organisers opting against any replacement races for April due to the short notice and the complexity of transporting teams and equipment back to Australia from Asia.
“It was a near thing,” revealed well-known broadcaster Eddie McGuire, who was with Domenicali when the call came in. “He did everything right. It’s only in the end Formula 1 said no.”
The Adelaide street circuit also currently lacks FIA approval for a modern F1 race, adding another major obstacle to any last-minute return.
“You’ve got to be in it to win it,” Malinauskas said.
“I wasn’t putting it out there publicly – I rang them directly.”
Formula 1 has since confirmed there will be no additional races replacing Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with support series including Formula 2 and F1 Academy also left without substitute events.
However, the door may not be completely closed.
According to Sport Bild, Formula 1 has not ruled out rescheduling the cancelled races later in the year, with one option being a tightly packed slot between the Azerbaijan and Singapore grands prix in late September and early October.
Such a scenario would however present major logistical challenges, potentially requiring compressed race weekends or midweek events.
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