13/01/2011
NEWS STORY
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Bernie Ecclestone's dream of a Grand Prix on the street of Rome has taken a severe knock, the F1 supremo admitting that nobody wants two races in the same country.
Yesterday, Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali said that while he was happy with a twenty-race calendar, he didn't believe any one country should host two rounds of the championship. Today, Ecclestone, in a letter to La Repubblica, admitted that this was a common feeling within the industry.
The Italian Grand Prix is synonymous with Monza, and fearing that a race in Rome might damage the future of F1 at the legendary Autodromo Nazionale, even the Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, admitted that it would not be right.
"If there must be a choice between the two races we will take a step back," he told reporters, according to Reuters.
The man behind the Rome project, Maurizio Flammini, remains defiant claiming that Ecclestone is keen to see the Grand Prix alternate between Rome and Monza. However, officials at Monza have said they are not prepared to share the hosting of the event.
Currently, Spain hosts two races, one at Barcelona the other in Valencia. However, Ecclestone has said that the Valencia race - which is staged as the European Grand Prix - could find itself hosting the event in rotation with other circuits/countries, especially in light of the economic crisis in Europe and growing pressure from the east for more and more races.
Furthermore, some might say that the UAE has more than one race, what with Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.