Future of Italian Grand Prix at Monza secured

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The future of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza has been secured following the signing of a new three-year deal.

The race at the historic venue - which has been on the F1 calendar in every season except for 1980 - was in doubt after the delay of the signing of a new contract, with this year's edition of the race having been the last of its current deal.

Bernie Ecclestone announced at a press conference during the Italian Grand Prix weekend in September that a new three-year deal had been agreed. However, final confirmation was long in coming, with it being confirmed just before the announcement of the definitive 2017 F1 calendar at a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Vienna on Wednesday.

The BBC reports the deal to be worth €68m (£60.5m) over the next three years, citing a source close to the deal in its claim that "F1 will receive €22m in 2017 and 2018 and €24m in 2019".

While Italy's future is now secure, the German Grand Prix is unlikely to be on the new calendar for next season following comments made by the race organisers last week.

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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.