Archive
Thank you for rating this article
Monaco Grand Prix to stay in Monaco
2011-05-30 13:46
Agreement will keep Formula 1 in Monaco until 2022
After recent comments by Bernie Ecclestone were published in the Independent to the effect that Formula 1 'could do without Monaco', the future of the Monaco Grand Prix was thrown into turmoil. "The Europeans are going to have to pay more money or we will have to go somewhere else," Ecclestone had said.
That comment prompted a statement from the Automobile Club de Monaco effectively saying that no-one should panic until contracts were signed. Well, now that has happened. At a meeting in London, a ten-year agreement was rubberstamped today which assures Monaco of its slot in the prestigious racing calendar until at least 2022.
Motor racing has a long history in the Principality, going back over eighty years, and many avid fans still think of Monte Carlo as the definitive road race. It has been an annual fixture in the F1 World
Championship since 1955. Today's agreement means that - at least for the next decade, motor racing's coming home to where it belongs - and where many of its most famous names, including David Coulthard and Jenson Button, reside.