Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFormula 1

Eccelstone fuels doubts over Monza future

Bernie Ecclestone has fuelled doubts over the future of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza by saying “we’re not doing cut price things”.

The race at the iconic high-speed circuit has been in doubt, with its current contract set to expire at the end of 2016. Roberto Maroni - the governor of Lombardy - recently claimed a new deal could be agreed “by early September” as Monza seeks to secure sufficient funds to host the race beyond next year.

However, Ecclestone says he will not back down in contract negotiations and insists it is up to the Italian Grand Prix promoters to decide if it wants to remain on the calendar.

“We’ll see when we get to Monza,” Ecclestone said. “They’ve got a contract, all they’ve got to do is find a pen, it’s easy. We had a deal with them two years ago, so if they just continue with that it’s all OK.”

When asked if he expects to be able to reach an agreement which retains Monza on the calendar, Ecclestone replied: “No idea, haven’t got a clue.

“We’re happy to be at Monza, obviously, but we’re not doing cut price things.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.