AGPC rocked by PR departure.

The Australian Grand Prix Corporation suffered a communications blow on the eve of its tenth anniversary event in Melbourne, when long-time media manager Geoff Harris decided to quit.

Harris has dealt with the media since the second Melbourne GP in 1997, but told contacts in the sport that his departure was down to 'circumstances there that were increasingly unsatisfactory' within the organisation. No further details surrounding the departure were initially made public, although it later transpired that Mark Webber's publicity run across Sydney Harbour Bridge provided the final straw.

According to local newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald, Webber spent only ten minutes driving his Williams-BMW across the bridge, but disagreements over media strategy caused Harris to tender his resignation.

"It was looming as the world's greatest media non-event," Harris said, explaining that original plans would have prevented both spectators and media photographers from gaining access to the bridge. Eventually, the media were allowed into areas where they could take photographs, but were kept at a distance from Webber and the car, making certain shots impossible.

The public remained banned from the scene during Webber's run, with only a giant TV screen, set up nearby, providing a reasonable view of the action for anyone without access to nearby high-rise buildings. This, added to the amount of 'red tape' that had preceded the event, finally proved too much for Harris, who believed he was being prevented from realising the event's full PR potential.

"There's a bit to be told about these circumstances, but perhaps not in haste," Harris insisted in the message he sent to media colleagues notifying them of his departure, "My enthusiasm for the GP and F1 is not in any way diminished. Indeed, it will be good to enjoy those things without some of the associated hassles of recent times."

The well-respected journalist will be succeeded in the communications department of the grand prix by long-time colleagues Fiona Taylor and Kirsty Nicholls.