Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone will not attend the Melbourne Grand Prix this weekend. He will instead be in New York to hear a pitch for the race to be hosted on Staten Island.

Melbourne's mayor Robert Doyle recently caused some upset when he questioned the cost of hosting the Melbourne event to Victorian taxpayers.

There will certainly be no shortage of takers around the world if Melbourne comes off the calendar - with Korea, Delhi and Russia all having signed up for future events, there could already be 23 races on the calendar by 2014.