02/07/2014
NEWS STORY
Officials at Monza are determined to keep the Italian Grand Prix, claiming that "at least ten million euros" will be invested in the circuit.
Still reeling following Bernie Ecclestone's claim that the legendary track will be dropped from the calendar when its current contract runs out in 2016, officials at Monza, despite being unaware what exactly his gripe is, say that money will be invested in the track's facilities.
"Mr Ecclestone has not told us anything about this yet, so we don't know what the new requests are for the Italian Grand Prix from an economical and commercial point of view," the circuit's head of Formula One operations, Federico Bendinelli, told SportBusiness International.
"We plan to upgrade one area, such as grandstands, track and facilities, each year," he added. "The project will start this year and will go on for the next four to five years. It's not easy to say how much we will spend, because it would come from public money as the circuit is not privately owned, however the investment will be at least €10m (£7.9m)."
Despite a massive overhaul to the pit and paddock facilities in recent years, which meant the destruction of numerous sights of historic interest, Ecclestone remains unhappy with the circuit and its promoters though he has yet to tell them exactly why.
Though further improvements will be welcomed by Ecclestone, the most likely scenario is that his threat is merely intended to prepare the promoters for a major hike in the fee demanded to host the race.
On the other hand, taking the Italian Grand Prix to Mugello, which is owned by Ferrari, would no doubt please company president Luca di Montezemolo who is currently stirring up unrest, both inside and outside the paddock, unhappy with the direction the sport is taking.
No doubt a Grand Prix on Ferrari's own track would be exactly the direction Montezemolo would like the sport to take at this time.
Chris Balfe