Nov. 21, 2012, 2:56 p.m.
Former Formula One world champion Alan Jones says the Australian Grand Prix is admired across the globe and that there's no need for it to become a night race to stay in Melbourne.
The Victorian government's contract with Formula One's governing body to stage the race at Albert Park expires after the 2015 race and there is pressure for it to relinquish the rights due to spiralling costs. The government subsidised this year's race by $56.65 million.
The government and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation have also been urged to run the race as a night event for the benefit of European television viewers.
But Jones, who claimed the world title in 1980 and ended his F1 career on the streets of Adelaide in 1986, said local organisers had struck a fair compromise with the sport's supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, by staging the Melbourne race as twilight event.
"From my point of view, as Australians, we've been getting up in the middle of the night to watch European grands prix for the last 25 years," said Jones, who on Wednesday attended a press conference to mark 60 years since Albert Park first hosted the Australian Grand Prix.
"They (European viewers) can get up to watch one.
"What we're doing now is a good compromise, starting it later in the day."
Jones said provided the state government was keen to sign a new contract to keep the race, Melbourne had a lot of support across the world.
"All the people involved in Formula One just love coming here and so if there had to be a vote taken they'd all put their hand up and say 'We want to go to Australia'," he said.
"They love coming here, they like the circuit, it's probably one of the best-run grands prix in the world. So on that aspect alone I think we've got a really good chance of retaining it."
The state government has indicated it wants to retain the Grand Prix beyond 2015 but is opposed to running it at night because of the costs and interruption on local residents.
Jones said transforming the event into a night race was too big an ask.
"By lighting up Albert Park it would be terribly expensive, it would be inconvenient," he said.
"You know, you get a lot of corporates coming from interstate. How would they get back in time to start work on Monday morning? As it is at the moment, I think it's a great compromise."
The Albert Park race has for years endured strong opposition within Melbourne, but Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Andrew Westacott said the event showcased the city around the world.
To mark the 60th anniversary of the first race at Albert Park, the corporation will next year grant fans free entry on the first practice day of the four-year event.
Critics have said previously the corporation has previously inflated attendance numbers, but Westacott denied granting free entry on the Thursday was a way to boost crowd numbers.
"No, not at all. In fact it will be very transparent, the attendance on the Thursday in comparison to any other day," he said.
Jones' father, Stan, drove in the 1953 Australian Grand Prix and Jones marked the occasion with a quick spin in his late father's old Maybach.
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