Finances key to Melbourne night race

Victoria Premier Steve Bracks says Melbourne will only consider hosting their Formula One Grand Prix at night if it makes financial sense

Australian Grand Prix boss Ron Walker said last week that they would look into the possibility of staging the race at night if Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone pressed ahead with the idea.

"We are looking at it and, when Bernie gets here, we'll talk to him about it again," Walker was quoted as saying in the Age newspaper. "He hasn't said to me that we have to do it. It's an option."

With the idea, Ecclestone is looking to boost television audiences in Europe.

But following the third-lowest crowd in Melbourne's history in last weekend's race, Bracks is staying cautious about plans for the night race, saying they will look carefully at the cost and the benefits.

"The cost of actually staging it will be done on a proper cost-benefit analysis," Bracks told the Herald Sun. "If it all stacks up, that's going to be something which is going to be persuasive. But we have to wait and see.

"We've got a very open mind about lights and night-time races and will look at the costs and benefits... and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation will do some extensive work to determine how viable that will be.

"We need to look at the revenue potential of having a greater opportunity to get sponsorship by selling a night-time race internationally, and we need to look at the expense of that."

The newspaper reports the four-day crowd of 301,000 was the smallest for the event since 1998.