{"id":520951,"date":"2026-03-05T19:58:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520951\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T19:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:58:18","slug":"grand-prix-boss-martin-pakula-and-his-impossible-f1-task","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520951\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Prix boss Martin Pakula and his impossible F1 task"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s a busy week for Martin Pakula, chair of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, making sure all the Formula 1 teams arrived at the track despite the war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The last thing you need is asbestos turning up in F1 pit facilities and blowing out the cost<\/a> of the rebuild to $395 million.<\/p>\n

\"AustralianAustralian Grand Prix Corporation chair Martin Pakula on stage alongside Victorian Chamber chief executive Sally Curtain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you\u2019d prefer not to find asbestos, so when that became known that did not please me,\u201d Pakula said in quite the understatement at the Victorian Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Grand Prix breakfast on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook in the olden days, you could probably avoid the exceptional additional cost of removing asbestos by just burying it and leaving it there, which is apparently what happened in 1994 when the original pit building was built.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you, the asbestos didn\u2019t appear between then and now. It\u2019s probably been in the ground there for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Oscar<\/a><\/p>\n

The breakfast hosted by Victorian Chamber chief executive Sally Curtain featured croissant queen Kate Reid interviewing Oscar Piastri\u2019s mum Nicole Piastri.<\/p>\n

The event was attended by former governor Linda Dessau, City of Melbourne councillors Gladys Liu and Rafael Camillo along with James Teodorini, the newly appointed head of event sponsor AirWallex\u2019s Australian and New Zealand operations.<\/p>\n

To add to Pakula\u2019s workload for the week he was asked as the chair of Crown to find a last-minute room for a \u201clate breaking visitor\u201d, only to find Crown\u2019s hotel rooms were 98 per cent full.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas it Kim Kardashian?\u201d Curtain asked cheekily, referring to Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton\u2019s rumoured new squeeze.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Kim\u2019s here, I don\u2019t know about it, but the rumours abound,\u201d Pakula said.<\/p>\n

\"WillWill she, won\u2019t she? \u201cRumours abound\u201d on whether Kim Kardashian will appear at the Grand Prix in Melbourne. Bloomberg<\/p>\n

Early morning breakfasters were pleased to hear that Pakula has no intention of the Grand Prix turning into a night event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a day race guy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the way that Albert Park shows Melbourne off with the drone footage, with the helicopter footage during the day, is absolutely magnificent. I think we get our greatest benefit from displaying our city in all its glory as a day race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pakula said the conversation had also changed around TV broadcast times.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce upon a time when it was all about what time you broadcast into Europe, there was more appetite for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now everyone\u2019s growing into Asia, growing into the USA, the time of day that we have the race actually works pretty well in some of those TV markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vizard celebrates 70 years with 50 friends<\/p>\n

Author, playwright, philanthropist, academic and former Gold Logie winner Steve Vizard will mark a major milestone next week with a gathering at Melbourne University.<\/p>\n

Vizard hits 70 on Friday and early next week will be joined by 50 friends at University House to celebrate him becoming a septuagenarian.<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve Vizard, pictured in 2021, will celebrate his 70th with a small function at University House.Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

While Vizard is a professor at Monash and Adelaide universities, he is also involved with Melbourne University. Back in the day Vizard studied arts and law at the University of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a very quiet affair. The principal consideration in choosing the venue was that it had an excellent wine list and rooms full of couches because, frankly, half of the guests can barely walk,\u201d Vizard quipped.<\/p>\n

While it is an intimate gathering, in PR parlance it is a \u201cgood list\u201d.<\/p>\n

Guests attending include comedian\/actor Glenn Robbins, actor Mark Mitchell, Mr Melbourne Eddie McGuire, 3AW host Russel Howcroft, Ian McFadyen, Michael Nettlefold, John Rothfield (aka Dr Turf), media identity Michael Roberts, Bates Smart\u2019s Jeff Copolov, Marshall White\u2019s Jack Bongiorno, composer Joe Chindamo, Profile Talent managing director Mark Klemens, and writer, producer and Vizard\u2019s former partner in the Artists Services production company, Andrew Knight.<\/p>\n

Karl Stefanovic hold talks over possible FM radio move<\/p>\n

The spectacular implosion of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson this week has ignited a frenzy of industry speculation about what the radio company will do next as it wrestles with the prospect of life without Sandilands in the event he is unable to make up with his professional partner of nearly three decades.<\/p>\n

Enter Today show co-host Karl Stefanovic, whose contract with Nine Entertainment, publisher of this masthead, is reportedly due to expire at the end of this year. ARN Media, which owns the KIIS network, has recently held informal talks with Stefanovic\u2019s camp over a possible move to poach him from next year, according to two sources familiar with the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.<\/p>\n

\"KarlKarl Stefanovic and Jasmine Stefanovic attend the 63rd TV WEEK Logie Awards in 2023.Hanna Lassen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

As things stand, we hear the discussions have not resulted in any agreement or deal, and are not guaranteed to result in a move. It should be noted that media companies hold discussions of this nature with prospective talent all the time. Still, the contact itself, which we hear was initiated before the Kyle and Jackie O on-air bust-up, certainly piqued our interest.<\/p>\n

ARN Media and Nine declined to comment. Stefanovic didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment in time for publication.<\/p>\n

Word of the talks came across our desk amid mounting industry intrigue over Stefanovic\u2019s future at Nine, which was given renewed prominence after Henderson walked from ARN\u2019s marquee show, just one year into an eye-watering 10-year, $200 million contract for the duo.<\/p>\n

Stefanovic\u2019s future has been the subject of ongoing industry gossip for months. But the chatter was sent into overdrive when he was given the go-ahead by Nine to strike out and launch his own podcast, The Karl Stefanovic Show, independent of the company.<\/p>\n

Related Video<\/p>\n

The podcast, known affectionately as \u201cthe Joe Bogan Experience\u201d in some media circles, had none other than Sandilands as a guest just two weeks ago, and has had all manner of CBD favourites on to chew the fat. The show\u2019s recent guests have included newly minted One Nation member Barnaby Joyce, his boss, Senator Pauline Hanson, and former senator Gerard Rennick.<\/p>\n

We hear that Stefanovic is liking his newfound podcast freedom, which leads us to speculate that, if things were to get serious with ARN, any deal would not include his independent \u201cpoddie\u201d, as he\u2019s been known to describe it. Our guess? Maybe the company is fantasising about a future where he hosts Sydney breakfast.<\/p>\n

Michelle Obama\u2019s tour to be held \u2018off-the-record\u2019<\/p>\n

Journalists are no strangers to having to jump through endless hoops to get access to public figures, events, anything really. The public relations apparatus outnumbers us at a ratio of what feels like 100:1.<\/p>\n

So when a public figure of global notoriety like Michelle Obama travels to Australia only to be shielded from the media altogether, we can\u2019t help but scratch our heads. What could she possibly say that she hasn\u2019t said before, that hasn\u2019t already been workshopped within an inch of its life?<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer first lady Michelle Obama is heading Down Under.AP<\/p>\n

When we asked the people over at Growth Faculty, the events company running the former first lady of the United States\u2019 speaking tour of Australia, why journalists were being told Obama\u2019s shows in Melbourne and Sydney would go ahead \u201coff-the-record\u201d in May, they didn\u2019t seem to know either.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowth Faculty does not have access to\u202fMrs Obama beyond her attendance\u202fat\u202fits events,\u201d a spokeswoman for the company told CBD. \u201cAll guests are kindly asked to observe the venue\u2019s standard conditions of entry, which include restrictions on taking and\/or publishing video footage. We appreciate everyone\u2019s co-operation in helping us create a respectful and enjoyable experience for all attendees.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\"FionaFiona Byrne<\/a> is the CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.\"JohnJohn Buckley<\/a> is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-520951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}