A bold pitch to get Adelaide on the calendar for the current Formula 1 season has been revealed, with South Australia’s Premier, Peter Malinauskas, making a play to replace two major races.
The cancellation of the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia was confirmed by F1 organisers this week amid ongoing safety concerns due to the war in the Middle East.
The decision to abandon those races had been widely expected, but organisers waited until just under a month out from when they were scheduled to make the final call.
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Alternative venues to host the cancelled races were considered by the F1, including a new race on a circuit in Europe or even back-to-back contests in Japan.
But Malinauskas saw an opportunity to get South Australia back on the calendar.
“I reached out to Stefano Domenicali, who is the CEO of F1,” Malinauskas told Triple M.
Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas. Getty
“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 that they were not going to be racing in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, I was like, ‘Hello, this is an opportunity’. So I got on the phone and asked.
“I put it out to them. I said, ‘Listen, I’ve got the team, they’ve worked the numbers. We can set the track up on these timelines.'”
Malinauskas was told his pitch would be taken on board when it came to making a call on if South Australia would be a suitable host venue for the cancelled races.
In the end, due to logistical reasons, F1 organisers opted against alternative venues.
The FIA also confirmed that F2, F2 and the F1 Academy will also have no additional races in wake of the late cancellation of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
“You’ve got to be in it to win it,” Malinauskas said of his efforts.
“I wasn’t putting it out there publicly because it was an initial reach out. I rang them directly. I just happened to land at a time he was with [Eddie McGuire].”
Ukyo Katayama in action at the last Australian Grand Prix held in Adelaide in 1995. LAT Images
McGuire told FIVEaa that he believed Malinauska’s pitch was “genius”, as he also was speaking to Domenicali in an attempt to get a second race to take place in Melbourne.
“It was a near thing, (Malinauskas) did everything right,” McGuire recalled.
“It’s only in the end Formula 1 said no.”
The bid was always going to be a massive reach for South Australia given the heavy costs related to getting each team’s equipment around the globe.
To be able to move from Asia back to Australia on short notice would be a tough ask, while another obstacle was that the Adelaide circuit has not yet been approved for racing F1.
South Australia has recently ramped up its events calendar, with motorsport one piece of the puzzle. Adelaide will host a MotoGP Grand Prix next year.
The F1, meanwhile, will travel to Japan for the third race of the season on March 29.