As any racing fan Down Under will tell you, the Australian Grand Prix has a long and rich history. The event has been held annually since 1928, and has been a staple of the Formula One calendar since 1985, usually either kicking off or ending the season. History might not be worth as much as cold hard cash to Bernie Ecclestone, though, as the F1 manager is reportedly preparing to scrap the Melbourne event in favor of a new one in Russia.

This weekend Ecclestone was slated to meet with government officials in St. Petersburg to discuss building a new circuit there to host a Russian Grand Prix. But with the calendar already stretched thin, something's got to give, and Ecclestone has reportedly grown impatient with the Aussie event, whose organizers have been resistant to the idea of turning their event into a night race like Singapore's, prompting reports that Bernie won't renew Australia's contract beyond 2010. With the Indian Grand Prix set to debut in the same year, F1 could be dominated by events in Asia by the end of the decade.

[Source: F1-Live]

F1 to ditch Australia for Russia originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.