AN audacious bid to bring the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix to Sydney and possibly race it across the Harbour Bridge will be launched by a ­­­re-elected Baird government.

Premier Mike Baird will today announce that, if ­­re-elected on March 28, work would start on taking the Grand Prix off Melbourne.

Mr Baird would establish a bid team featuring Rod ­McGeoch, who led Sydney’s successful 2000 Olympics bid, and former News Corp CEO John Hartigan, the chairman of Destination NSW. The team would report to government by the end of the year on the economics of the race.

EDITORIAL: WHY SCENIC SYDNEY IS GRAND PRIX IDEAL

media_camera This could be happening in Sydney if Mike Baird’s bid is successful.

It is understood the Premier is interested in a minimum three-year bid which would cost NSW taxpayers up to $180 million to stage the event.

One option is for the event to race across the Harbour Bridge, back through the ­Cahill Expressway past the Conservatorium of Music and then down Bridge Street on to York Street in an approximately 5km circuit — about the same length as that of ­Melbourne’s Albert Park.

If the bridge were used, chicanes would have to be installed to ensure the cars went slower because the shape of the bridge’s road surface would otherwise cause the cars to lift up.

media_camera Daniel Ricciardo on top of town after arriving in Melbourne for the 2015 Australian Grand Prix / Picture: David Caird.

The CBD would be shut down for the race, which would see F1 stars such as ­Australia’s Red Bull ace Daniel Ricciardo doing high-speed battle over the harbour.

It is understood the ­government has plans to set up a street circuit similar to ­Monaco and Singapore.

The key would be to feature the Harbour Bridge and Opera House as part of the race to a worldwide television audience.

A public holiday would likely be created on the Friday of the event, if it came to Sydney, to get everyone into the spirit.

News_Image_File: tennis tennis

Mr McGeoch and Mr Hartigan will examine all aspects of a potential bid — including cost to taxpayers, benefits to the economy, infrastructure implications and potential routes. The Australian Grand Prix runs in March, with this year’s race run this weekend.

media_camera Daniel Ricciardo driving at the 2014 Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

media_camera Mark Webber driving an F1 car over the Harbour Bridge in 2005. media_camera F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo.

Victoria’s contract expires in 2020 but a decision on an Australian host city is expected to be made by the Formula One governing body in 2018.

The bid would take ­advantage of the fact that the man who helped negotiate its transfer from Adelaide to ­Melbourne in 1996, Ron ­Walker, has just stood down as head of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.

“I want the Formula One to come to Sydney, because no other city in the world could provide a more spectacular backdrop for this event,” Premier Mike Baird said.

“We know this event is watched by up to 30 million people around the world, and securing the Grand Prix would put our already successful events strategy in pole position.

“But we need to get all the facts, before we move to bid stage. Rod McGeoch and John Hartigan are the right people to make this happen.”

Last month, the government announced it would top up its major events budget by $123 million if elected with hopes for an American National Football League (NFL) game, another Major League Baseball game, a National Basketball Association game or the F1 for Sydney. The extra money would take the major events budget to $643 million.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews ordered his major events teams to reconsider how his state attracts events after the NSW government successfully snared more than 130 sporting, cultural and lifestyle events in 2014, injecting more than $500 million into the state.

The 2014 Australian Grand Prix drew an ­attendance of 314,900.

The Grand Prix moved to Melbourne in 1996 after 10 years in Adelaide but it has always attracted ­controversy, especially from the residents near the Albert Park circuit.

SECRET F1 DEAL GAVE RACE TO VICTORIA

Andrew Clennell

THE former Victorian Liberal government considered giving away the Australian Grand Prix in 2011 after commissioning an audit that found the race had cost the state more than $300 million over the years.

The revelation is ironic given it was another conservative government that moved heaven and earth to poach the race from Adelaide — the Kennett ­government in the early-1990s.

Melbourne has had the race since 1996, following its first decade in Adelaide from 1985.

But an independent report for the Baillieu government in 2011 found it was costing $50 million a year, while economic modelling showed the event increased gross state product by between $32 million and $39 million.

Despite this, Melbourne has agreed to continue to hold the race until 2020. The race’s ­future in the Victorian capital was on shaky ground last year with contractual spats between then-premier Denis Napthine and F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone over whether the race would be run at twilight or at night.

The deal to move the race to Melbourne was struck by ­Liberal Party figure Ron Walker, a key ally of Jeff Kennett, who was at the time chairman of the Victorian government’s Major Events Company.

Mr Walker said this week Melbourne had a secret contract with Ecclestone to take over the race when SA premier John Bannon left office.