Formula One legend Alan Jones says Adelaide is ‘too small’ for Grand Prix

Former F1 champion Alan Jones says Adelaide has a little problem in hosting a successful Grand Prix – there are just not enough rooms.

Australian Formula One legend Alan Jones believes Adelaide is too small to host a Grand Prix, declaring it should focus on the V8 Supercars instead.

The 1980 F1 World Champion said Adelaide did a “fantastic job initially” of hosting the Australian Grand Prix, but threw doubt on whether the city was big enough to keep up with the soaring popularity of the sport, which has exploded since the Netflix smash hit Drive to Survive.

“It’s too small a place for a Formula One race, there’s just not enough hotels, there’s not enough dormitories,” Jones told The Advertiser.

“It was having trouble to keep up when the Formula Ones (sic) were there.

“They had to billet out the accommodation to people, and in this day and age they wouldn’t stand for that.”

Aussie F1 legend Alan Jones says Adelaide is too small to host the Australian Grand Prix. Picture: Sarah Matray

His comments come after it was revealed Premier Peter Malinauskas launched a last-minute attempt to snatch the F1 back from Melbourne. He held late-night talks in April with F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali, who told Mr Malinauskas he was “excited” with SA’s renewed interest.

But Mr Domenicali said it was too late to make a formal bid, as Melbourne was about to ink a 10-year contract extension for the race to 2035.

Mr Domenicali said if the former state government showed interest late last year, months before Mr Malinauskas became Premier, F1 would have considered an Adelaide bid for the race.

Winning the drivers’ championship with Williams in 1980, Jones is the second Australian to win an F1 title, after triple World Champion Sir Jack Brabham. He made his last appearance as an F1 racer at the 1986 Adelaide Grand Prix.

The last Adelaide Grand Prix in 1995 drew a massive crowd of 520,000 – more than Melbourne’s record of 420,000 this year.

It’s understood Labor was confident it could match the crowd numbers of 1995, but Melbourne-born Jones is not convinced.

Alan Jones racing for Beatrice Lola through “Banana Bend” on the Adelaide street circuit in 1985.

“I think Adelaide do a fabulous job, and I am very glad that the V8s are going back there,” he said.

“That was a wonderful event and they did a great job, so maybe they should just concentrate on that.”

Jones said there would have been no chance of getting the F1 back under the former Marshall government, which axed the Adelaide 500 V8 race before Mr Malinauskas reinstated it.

The Advertiser asked Labor Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula what he thought of Mr Malinauskas’s last-ditch efforts to steal the Grand Prix, but he would not be drawn into a debate.

“We always knew that competition for the Australian F1 Grand Prix would be incredibly competitive – why wouldn’t it be,” Mr Pakula said.

“It’s one of the great events on the global sporting calendar.”

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