Behind closed doors and even before negotiations began, Adelaide had already seemingly lost the Grand Prix

It’s been 30-years since the last Adelaide Grand Prix and while the state has moved on there’s still some bitter truths over why we lost the crowning jewel F1 race.

Ron Walker had met with Liberal premier Dean Brown in December 1993, two days after he took office, and produced a signed contract giving Melbourne the rights to the race. Picture: Chris Mangan

It’s been 30 years since the last Formula One Grand Prix was held in South Australia and much has been said about how Adelaide lost the race.

But according to those who were there, money wasn’t the driving issue and the personal friendship between Formula One Group chief Bernie Ecclestone and John Bannon – the premier who signed the initial agreement in 1984 – is believed to have played a significant part in the saga.

While it’s well known the Victorian government had negotiated in secret with Mr Ecclestone, it’s understood that an agreement with Melbourne had been reached, but not yet signed, before negotiations with the South Australian government had begun.

Formula One Group chief Bernie Ecclestone’s friendship with former South Australian premier John Bannon is believed to have impacted negotiations. Picture: AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili

Thirty-two years later, Lynn Arnold, who was premier at the time, remains angry over what he claims was a lack of transparency by Mr Ecclestone.

Mr Arnold met with the Formula One supremo in January 1993, during a government visit to the UK.

It was three months after he was elected the Labor leader, following the resignation of Mr Bannon in the wake of the $3.1 billion State Bank collapse.

“We had a number of things on our agenda to do [in the UK],” Mr Arnold said.

“And it was said to me by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, ‘look, the contract for the Grand Prix is going to finish in a couple of years, we need to start the process now about renewing it’.

Thirty-two years later, Mr Arnold, who was premier at the time, remains angry over what he claims was a lack of transparency during negotiations by Mr Ecclestone.

Alain Prost takes the chequered flag to win the 1986 Australian Grand Prix. Photo by Tony Feder.

The meeting would take place in Mr Ecclestone’s ground floor apartment, as Mr Arnold recalls, it lasted around half-an-hour over tea, his economics adviser Ray Garrand was also present.

“It was a very swish area and a very swish apartment,” Mr Arnold said.

“We walked in and we sat down on very comfy couches and by all accounts it was an amiable occasion.

“There was no sense of ill will on [Ecclestone’s] part, there was no reason why I would have any ill will towards him.

Mr Arnold pointed out that “Bernie and John” had established a strong rapport over the years and that it had held Adelaide in good stead.

But with Bannon gone, Mr Arnold believes there was “no longer a loyalty factor to South Australia” on Mr Ecclestone’s part.

“He made the point that he regarded John as a personal friend,” Mr Arnold said.

“And was disappointed that he was no longer the premier, but that was all, there was nothing more said about it than that.

“We had a discussion about the Grand Prix, I said we wanted to start the negotiations and

The Advertiser’s reaction to the announcement in 1993.

Bernie Ecclestone at the Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne, March 1996.

I would appoint a minister to handle those negotiations.

“He said that’s fine, that’s absolutely agreeable.

“In the process of the conversation, it was agreed that we would both go into these negotiations in good faith … We finished the three of us agreeing that the Grand Prix would be Adelaide’s as long as we wanted it, subject to negotiations about the price.

Mike Rann, who was the Minister for Tourism at the time, was appointed to drive the negotiations.

He had met Mr Ecclestone on occasion while he was an adviser to Mr Bannon.

“My understanding was that there was a very special relationship between John Bannon and Bernie Ecclestone after John secured the Grand Prix for South Australia,” Mr Rann said.

McLaren-Honda driver Gerhard Berger wins the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Adelaide 1992.

1996: Then Premier Jeff Kennett launches the Australian Grand Prix program at the track in Albert Park.

“They developed a close personal relationship even though you could not imagine two more different people.”

But beyond the impact of the friendship, Mr Rann said there was an awareness that both London organisers of Formula One and local organisers of the event, “were becoming increasingly frustrated by fairly bitter partisan attacks on the cost of the Grand Prix”.

“The Tour Down Under has had total bipartisan support right from the start and it’s continued, by both sides of politics, to be embraced and neutrally supported,” Mr Rann said.

“It’s a shame that didn’t happen with the Adelaide Grand Prix.”

Six days after losing the December 1993 election, Mr Arnold received a call from the newly elected Liberal premier Dean Brown.

Mr Brown explained that Victorian businessman Ron Walker had met with him two days after he took office and produced a contract, signed in September, giving Melbourne the rights to host the Grand Prix.

“But worse than that,” Mr Arnold said.

Mr Brown indicated that a deal “had already been done when you were in London”.

“I was emotionally shattered, first of all to hear we’d lost the Grand Prix,” Mr Arnold said.

“But particularly that those negotiations had apparently been of no value whatsoever.

“We were being teased and yes, they were tough negotiations, but they weren’t in fact real negotiations.”

Originally published as Behind closed doors and even before negotiations began, Adelaide had already seemingly lost the Grand Prix