28/01/2011
NEWS STORY
In reaction to the Melbourne Lord Mayor's suggestion that the city should turn its back on F1, Bernie Ecclestone has said he is willing to scrap the current contract which runs until 2015.
While this year's event will go ahead, Ecclestone says he is willing to terminate the contract after the race and take F1 elsewhere.
Reacting directly to Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle's comments, Ecclestone told the Herald Sun: "If the mayor thinks I'm cranky, I can probably be able to help him by proving it. If he's not happy with the event in Australia, if he wants to cancel the contract, we'd be happy to talk to him about that. If he wishes to cease having the event in Melbourne, I am happy to discuss that with him."
The 2010 event saw a total loss of $49.4m AUD (£29.5m), and followed a loss ofA$40m AUD for the 2009 event, indeed, the losses have been steadily growing since 2005 when the Albert Park event lost $13m (£5.3m).
Speaking last weekend, Doyle said he can envisage the loss rising to as much as $70m AUD (£42.3m) and suggested it is time for the city to say "time's up" to the Grand Prix.
"I wouldn't say (the race would stay) indefinitely," said Ecclestone. "We've stayed an awful long time. There is no reason why we should leave. It's up to him, if he wants to talk about terminating the contract... he should talk to someone in our organisation if he thinks I'm cranky and see what he can come up with."
"I bet I should be dealing with these things longer than he is going to be Mayor in Melbourne," added the F1 supremo, no doubt signalling a suitable response from Mr Doyle over the coming days.