Michael McGuire: Verstappen’s F1 miracle should have been in Adelaide

The final race of the F1 season used to be a staple of Adelaide life. Bring it home, writes Michael McGuire.

Sitting on my couch in the dark in the small hours of Monday morning, a sudden wave of nostalgia gripped me. In front of me on the TV was the last race of what has been the most gripping Formula One season in many a decade.

Mercedes champion Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull contender Max Verstappen were level on points going into this championship decider after a season of tight racing, dirty racing, controversy and arguments. And the arguments are still going on, even when the racing is done.

The setting for this epic Hamilton v Verstappen confrontation was the epically dull setting of Abu Dhabi. Thus the nostalgia. Adelaide used to be the setting for the final race of the Formula One season. Then it was Nigel Mansell’s rear left tyre exploding in a shower of sparks on Dequetteville Tce, which allowed Alain Prost to take the 1986 title.

Race winner and 2021 F1 World Drivers Champion Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing is congratulated by runner up in the race and championship Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP during the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi. Picture: Lars Baron/Getty Images

In 1994, Michael Schumacher drove Damon Hill off the track on East Tce to prevent his opponent becoming world champion. The late, great Ayrton Senna’s last win was in Adelaide in 1993.

But we gave it away. I don’t care if this is the world of late night pipedreams, it’s time to bring the Australian Grand Prix home.

There has been much talk of how we reset Adelaide in a post-pandemic world. How do we sell ourselves to a cautious world? How do we bring back tourists? How do we make ourselves an international destination? How do we reinvigorate the CBD? What could make a greater statement than bringing back the Formula One to Adelaide?

What would be better than walking down Rundle St of an afternoon and again hearing the mighty crack of a Formula One engine? There has been talk of bringing the electric Formula E to Adelaide. Sure. It could be the warm-up act, but it’s not much more than the mini league to the main attraction. Anyway, the F1 engine these days is a hybrid model, so it’s well on the road to environmental responsibility.

Nigel Mansell's tyre blowing out during Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Adelaide in 1986

For many years, the V8 race was sold as a passable substitute. And while it’s still inexplicable that the Marshall government ditched that race, it wasn’t same. It was run on a circuit that was half as long as the full F1 circuit, because it was half the event.

The last F1 race in Adelaide brought in 510,000 spectators across four days. The Sunday race-day crowd alone was 210,000 people. That’s how you use the parklands properly.

Yes, it will be expensive. But this is a state that wants to spend $660m on an arena that will site a mere 15,000 people, less than 3 per cent of a Grand Prix crowd. This is a state that is spending $10bn on South Rd, a thoroughfare that, according to the government, is not used by 84 per cent of Adelaide residents on any given day.

We would need to pay about $30m a year to bring F1 to Adelaide, then all the associated set-up costs after that, but F1 is going through a boom time. The world is watching.

The tension between Hamilton and Verstappen is part of it. So, too is the Netflix series Drive to Survive, which has brought in a whole new wave of fans to the sport, particularly in North America. The Netflix series is a captivating look at the previously hidden world of F1, the dramas, the rivalries, the remarkable technology of the fastest cars in the world.

Drive to Survive is cited as the reason that after many years of hosting no races, there will be two in the US next year. Next year there will be 23 F1 races in 21 countries in a travelling circus that lasts from March to November. Adelaide should be part of that.

We gave the Grand Prix away once. Melbourne has it until 2025, but because of the pandemic it hasn’t hosted a race for two years. Sydney has been making noises about trying to drag it away from Bleak City, but Adelaide is the race’s true home. It’s time to bring back Adelaide Alive.