How Adelaide nearly snatched back the Formula One Grand Prix from Melbourne

The secret heist which almost snatched back the Formula One to SA has been laid bare, with the detail of Premier Peter Malinauskas’ middle-of-the-night pitch revealed for the first time.

The option of hosting a night race to boost international viewership and attracting big-spending business communities would have been central to Adelaide’s bid to snatch the Formula One Grand Prix from Melbourne.

The Advertiser can reveal Peter Malinauskas launched an audacious, last-minute attempt to wrestle back the event just weeks after being elected Premier.

He was in secret talks with the highest levels of F1 management as the contract in Victoria was coming to an end.

Mr Malinauskas’s plot was thwarted only by a case of ill timing, as he was told F1 would have considered Adelaide’s bid if the former state government showed interest late last year.

The Advertiser understands Labor was prepared to host a night race to boost TV viewership in the northern hemisphere, and be flexible with the race’s position on the F1 calendar.

The state government was also ready to sign a long-term deal of between 10-15 years, while also committing to hosting an F1 Esports Series race at the same time as the Grand Prix or on a different date.

It’s understood Labor would have promised to put a huge focus on attracting big-spending business communities to turbocharge corporate and hospitality spending.

The behind-the-scenes plot, about which only the Premier’s closest advisers knew, involved 4am phone calls with contacts in London, including an F1 legend who raced the Adelaide street circuit in the dawn of his career.

One key contact was well-known F1 identity Mark Gallagher – a former racing executive who established the commercial arm of now four-time constructors’ champions Red Bull Racing.

Mr Gallagher, who spends half his time in Adelaide, leveraged his connections to set up a meeting between Mr Malinauskas and F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali one Friday night in April – just days after the checkered flag was waved at the Melbourne Grand Prix.

The Premier held a meeting with Formula One Group chief executive Stefano Domenicali (middle) just after this year’s Melbourne Grand Prix. Picture: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

The Australian Grand Prix was held in Adelaide from 1985 to 1995.

Mr Malinauskas, elected Premier not a month earlier, was aware Sydney and Melbourne were advanced in official bids to secure the race.

Speaking on a dimly-lit screen via Microsoft Teams, Mr Domenicali informed the Premier he was “very excited” about the new state government’s interest – but it was too late.

“He made it clear to me that had this interest from the state government happened late last year, then they would have welcomed the opportunity to engage with another proponent trying to put in a bid,” the Premier said.

Mr Malinauskas said he pushed the former Scuderia Ferrari team principal hard, trying desperately to lodge a last-minute bid. But, Mr Domenicali said he couldn’t let it happen in “good faith”, as the winning city was about to ink a 10-year deal.

“But, he said: ‘Look, in the event that the final contract (negotiations) were to fall over, we’ll pick up the phone to you straight away and get you to make a formal submission’,” Mr Malinauskas said.

The Australian F1 Grand Prix in Adelaide in 1991 – Dallara-Ferrari driver Pierluigi Martini crashes over the top of Tyrrell-Ilmor driver Olivier Grouillard on the first lap. Picture: Kevin Bull

Those negotiations remained on track and last week it was announced Melbourne had kept the Australian Grand Prix hosting rights until 2035.

“The thing that was both heartening and simultaneously disappointing is that Stefano and F1 still have a very long memory of the success of Adelaide,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“We were a victim of timing … but the warmth and the welcome that we received for the very fact that we were interested was unequivocal.

“It just demonstrates that the history still lingers in a positive way for the state and that there is a consciousness that Adelaide and SA is a motorsport city and a motorsport state.”

Around the same time these discussions took place, it was revealed SA knocked back an offer to host the 2021 Grand Prix as a plan B when Melbourne cancelled the event amid the Covid pandemic.

Adelaide hosted the Australian Grand Prix from 1985 to 1995 and was home to many historic moments. Late F1 icon Ayrton Senna’s had his final win in Adelaide before his tragic death at the 1994 San Marino race in Italy.

Just after winning the election, Mr Malinauskas overturned the Marshall government’s controversial decision to axe the Adelaide 500 supercars race.

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