12/04/2019
NEWS STORY
The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is one of five races in the final year of its contract, and like a number of its rivals receives limited assistance from the government, though the British and Brazilian events receive none.
Last year, circuit bosses at Monza revealed a radical overhaul of the historic track ahead of its centenary in 2022, and Damiani admits that as much as €60m of the proposed €100m is needed urgently, as he called on the government for assistance.
"The ACI is involved in the payment of the hosting fee to Liberty Media and cannot spend money on the very urgent renewal of the circuit," he revealed at ExpoMove, an event on urban mobility.
"It is an old track, close to reaching 100 years," he continued, "and the right way to arrive at this date is to have the circuit up to its historic standard.
"If some help could arrive from the Italian government for the circuit, it would be decisive in order to do everything we want to do," he admitted. "We were able to find a balance with the help from the Lombardy region, which expires this year and we have to renew for the next few years."
Like Silverstone and the other circuits in the final years of their contracts, Monza is in talks with the sport's owners in a bid to agree a new deal, but Damiani admits that the demands of previous contracts have made their mark.
"There is a very tight, complicated and difficult negotiation with Liberty Media, which has inherited too many costly and unsustainable contracts," he said. "But this is about the organisational aspect.
"I believe that the agreement that we hope for will be concluded and materialises, it is extraordinarily important for the work that we need to do."
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