Premier Malinauskas reveals bold Adelaide pitch to F1 boss
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas says he tried to get Formula 1 to Adelaide after the world championship axed plans to race in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
On the eve of the most recent grand prix in Shanghai, F1 said it would not race as planned in April at the Sakhir circuit or on the Jeddah Corniche streets.
That came after weeks of speculation that the events would not go ahead due to conflict in the Middle East.
Amid the turmoil, Malinauskas took the opportunity to call F1 boss Stefano Domenicali to gauge interest in a replacement race in Adelaide.
Former Collingwood Football Club president Eddie McGuire revealed to FiveAA on Monday that Malinauskas had been in talks with F1.
Speaking on Triple M, Malinauskas confirmed the speculation – adding somewhat amusing context to the rumour.
“I reached out to Stefano Domenicalli, who’s the CEO of F1,” said Malinauskas.
“I’ve been working on this for a while. When the events got cancelled because of the Iran war, I was straight on the phone to them.
“It just so happens when I contacted him, Eddie McGuire was with him at the same time.
“As soon as it became obvious that they were not going to be racing in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, I was like, ‘Hello! Is this an opportunity?’
“So yeah, I hit the phone and asked.
“If we had stitched this up, people would have known about it a little while ago.
“I put it out to them, and I said ‘I’ve got the team, they’ve worked the numbers, we can set track up on these timelines’, and they said ‘Look, leave it with us’.
“But they’ve decided to cancel those races and not replace them.”
Malinauskas said he knew his pitch was ambitious.
“You’ve got to be in it to win it,” he explained.
“But I wasn’t putting it out there publicly because it was an initial reach out. I rang them directly.”
Malinauska was not the only one to pitch for F1 to stay in Australia. According to the Herald Sun, the Victorian Government was prepared to extend F1’s stay in Melbourne.
Malinauskas’ appearance on TripleM came as he announced ticket registration opened for next year’s inaugural MotoGP street race in Adelaide.
The Premier last month secured the MotoGP race in a deal that will begin next year, having brought back the Supercars Grand Final upon his election in 2022.
Ticket registrations open for MotoGP in Adelaide
