F1 boss ‘makes secret visit to Sydney’ as plan to snatch grand prix from Melbourne gains traction 

Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali reportedly made a secret visit to Sydney in the week of the Australian Grand Prix as part of the city’s efforts to snatch the race away from Melbourne.

Domenicali was invited by ‘leading members of the New South Wales state government’ who are involved in the plan to take the race away from its current host before its contract with Formula 1 ends in 2025, according to The Australian newspaper.

The report said the Italian’s visit was ‘cloaked in secrecy and mired in a tangle of non-disclosure agreements’ and was part of a ‘carefully calibrated charm offensive’.

New South Wales roads minister Natalie Ward and tourism minister Stuart Ayres were named as ‘party to the negotiations’.

Charles Leclerc took his Ferrari to victory in last Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix – and if Sydney gets its way, he could soon be steering his Prancing Horse around the harbour city

F1 boss Stefano Domenicali – pictured walking on the grid just prior to the start of this year’s grand prix in Melbourne – reportedly paid a very secret visit to Sydney in the week of the race

Should Sydney be successful, the article said the race could be run on a circuit that would snake through the city’s central business district, which features world famous landmarks such as the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Another possibility would see the event held in Penrith, in the city’s far west. Sydney’s most suitable existing track for an F1 race is located at Eastern Creek, around 35km west of the downtown area.

Melbourne signed a new contract with Formula 1 in 2019, with the agreement stipulating that the race would be held there until at least 2025.

The Victorian city famously snatched the GP away from Adelaide, and hosted the race for the first time in 1996.

There have long been rumours that Sydney wants to give its southern rival a taste of its own medicine.

Around 420,000 fans attended last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix as the event returned from a two-year hiatus due to Covid. Sydney would love to get that kind of boost for its tourism industry and exposure to the rest of the world

Melbourne’s street circuit takes in Albert Park Lake near the CBD. Sydney’s backers are keen to have the race go through the heart of the city, taking in world-famous landmarks like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House

Most recently, New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet backed calls for the race to be shifted to Sydney in December last year.

He was reacting to reports that first emerged that October, claiming his government was holding ‘sensitive, high-level talks’ about the feasibility of hosting the race on a Monaco-style street circuit through the central business district.

‘We’ve got the greatest city in not just the country, but the world,’ Perrottet said.

‘And seriously, why would the Formula 1 want to stay in Melbourne when you can come here?

‘So we think we’re going to have a fighting chance to bring that even there, but it’s not just the Formula 1, it’s major events right across the country and across the world that we’re going after.’

An initial proposed layout revealed in 2021 had the cars racing under the southern end of the Harbour Bridge, through the Rocks area of the city a stone’s throw from the Opera House, with the pits and paddock based in Barangaroo, on the western waterfront edge of the CBD.

Sydneysiders have been able to see an F1 cars on the city streets before, with Aussie driver Mark Webber taking his Williams for a spin on the Harbour Bridge in 2005 as a publicity stunt.

That saw the bridge – one of the city’s most important roads – shut down for five hours, lending credence to the arguments of critics who say the race couldn’t be held in the heart of the city due to the immense disruption it would cause.

F1 cars would not be able to race on the Harbour Bridge itself due to safety concerns.