TREMAYNE: How Melbourne snatched the Australian GP from Adelaide 30 years ago

Not many countries can boast hosting the finale Grand Prix of one season, and the opening one the next, but that’s exactly what happened in Australia in 1996, as F1 Hall of Fame journalist David Tremayne explains.

Hall of Fame F1 JournalistDavid Tremayne
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Not many countries can boast hosting the finale Grand Prix of one season, and the opening one the next, but that’s exactly what happened in Australia in 1996.

It happened because of a deal so secret that its proponents used aliases when they travelled to the UK to discuss the idea of a switch from Adelaide to Melbourne with then-F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone in 1993.