Who can resist Ecclestone?

As Formula One is preparing itself for the first ever night race in its history, Bernie Ecclestone is searching more Asian countries to organise a Grand Prix under floodlights. On Sunday, the Formula One supremo already announced that Malaysia is willing to organise a night race from 2009.

After Singapore and Malaysia, Bernie Ecclestone is focussing on China and South Korea. “We'll speak to the people in China, see what we can do there,” said the 77-year-old.

As South Korea is due to join the Formula One calendar in 2010, the country will have to be willing to organise a night race. Ecclestone said: “Obviously when we race in South Korea, it will be good to have a night race.”

The reason why Bernie Ecclestone is so fixed on Asian night races is to attract the European television audience. Anyone who stands in the way of this plan will be thrown off the calendar. Look at Australia: the organisers of the Melbourne race have tried to show their goodwill by starting the race later, but this isn't enough for F1's Chief Executive. Ecclestone want the organisers of the Australian GP to host a night race and to bear the costs of this event.

Of course this idea is very positive for the European audience as they would not have to get up in the middle of the night to watch the race. But the organisers of the Australian GP have already put some good arguments on the table why not to host a night race. According to them, F1 wants to save costs and wants to become more green, but by planning night races, the costs to organise the event will be through the roof and by placing floodlights and using up so much electricity, the 'F1 goes green' principle would be broken.

There is an additional argument for Australia, as the Melbourne circuit is located very close to living zones. Pushing for a night race may result in complaints or lawsuits from people around the track due to the noise on evenings. That 'noise' is already becoming an increasing problem anyway, as Monza was also forced to defend itself in a lawsuit from complaining neighbours.

But these arguments will not stop Bernie as the Formula One supremo has no problems to throw the Australian GP off the calendar. To the prospect of a 'divorce' with the land 'down under', Ecclestone remains unfazed. “There's no kids involved so we haven't got a big problem,” he joked.

We can only expect China and South Korea to agree on a night race as the question remains: who can resist Ecclestone?