FIA president Jean Todt has apparently moved to oppose Bernie Ecclestone's current round of baiting the Australian Grand Prix, saying that the Albert Park venue was "sensational" and was one of the best races of the season.
The long-term future of the Australian round of the world championship has come up for some debate over the winter, after the Melbourne mayor Robert Doyle generated some headlines by suggesting the loss-making race should be dropped at the end of the current contract.
His comments, made in a newspaper column, included a description of Ecclestone as being "contentious and cranky" when it came to race contract negotiations.
And Ecclestone appeared to take offence to this more than anything else, going on to suggest that he would be happy to scrap the race immediately if the city was ready to walk away from F1.
Since then, soundbites over the long-term future of the race have come thick and fast, as Albert Park appears set to replace Silverstone as the annual 'will it stay, will it go?' story.
But Todt, who arrived in the Australian city this week to help promote an FIA-backed road safety campaign ahead of the season-opening F1 race next weekend, defended the track, saying that he thought the venue was good for the sport.
"Formula One...is a sport and it is important, and if Formula One does exist I think it is important to have one race in Australia because Australia is among the biggest nations in the world," Todt rambled to journalists on Tuesday.
He added: "Australia has been doing a great job together with people from [motor racing federation] CAMS. They have put Australia among the best grands prix in the season.
"Melbourne is a sensational venue with nice people, and when I arrived yesterday, I was thinking how good Melbourne is for Formula One."
The Melbourne race has been part of the F1 calendar since 1996, when it won the right to host the Australian GP from the Adelaide street circuit.
The current race contract is set to run until the end of the 2015 season.
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