Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race Results

'Nothing we can do' to help Monza - Ecclestone

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Bernie Ecclestone admits there is "nothing we can do" to help Monza save the Italian Grand Prix and has set a deadline of the end of the month for a resolution.

2016 is the final race at Monza on the current deal, with Automobile Club d'Italia (ACI) president Angelo Sticchi Damiani having previously voiced his confidence that a new deal would be agreed. However, recent meetings have failed to provide an agreement and Ecclestone now says the future of the race is out of his hands.

"It's Italian. A lot of conversations at the moment and not much action," Ecclestone told Reuters.

"They said to me a few months ago 'everything is sorted out, we know exactly where we are and it's all agreed and no dramas'. And now I heard yesterday it's become very political...they'll get on with it. Or not. Nothing we can do about it."

And Ecclestone says he wants a final decision made on Monza's future by the end of February.

"I don't know what's going to happen. It's a little bit Italian at the moment. The only people that can sort this out are the people that are currently involved in Italy.

"There's no deadline. They can take as long as they like, provided it's by the end of this month."

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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.