Formula One's commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone will miss this weekend's season-opening race in Melbourne to go to New York to talk to mayor Michael Bloomberg and officials about staging a race there.
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Ron Walker says the trip doesn't mean Ecclestone's snubbed Sunday's race at Albert Park.
Walker says it's about business in New York where Mayor Bloomberg is keen to get a race at Staten Island.
Soaring costs to taxpayers have sparked heated debate about the future of the race in Melbourne and there've been calls to ditch it once the city's hosting contract expires in 2015.
