Ecclestone Signs Italian GP Deal with Imola

[AoB Special Stage]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/im...ian-gp-798879/

Pending approval from the Italian ASN, Imola could host the Italian GP as early as 2017. Bernie playing both sides to the extreme, or a legitimate attempt to put Imola on the calendar?

[BSchneiderFan]

My cynical soul tells me the former. I hope a deal can be done to keep it at Monza, but my real hope is that we just keep an Italian Grand Prix.

[BSchneiderFan]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report...la-f1-contract

[chillibowl]

securing Imola would lessen the sting of loosing Monza but i am still optimistic that both can happen at the same time.

[wolfhound]

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/125344

In this article it appears as though Bernie just wants a signature for Monza to go ahead but he seems to forget to mention his fee. I wonder how much more its going to cost Monza over the current contract as it seems like one of the government organisatiions is lining his pocket to the tune of €5 million.

[S griffin]

I heard that because Monza is now secure they're going to bring back the SM Grand Prix

[BSchneiderFan]

I could live with that - happily - but I really don't see it happening because of pressure on the calendar.

[chunterer]

Imola doesn't look like an F1 grade circuit these days?!

[BSchneiderFan]

They've done work on it recently. It's Grade 1 - more than F1-ready.

[JohnMiller]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

They've done work on it recently. It's Grade 1 - more than F1-ready.

Have they somehow multiplied the space between the pit-lane and river by a factor of about five? Ie. the "paddock."

[BSchneiderFan]

All I can say is that the FIA has approved it for potential Formula 1 use.

[Paradise City]

Both Monza and Imola would be excellent. I wouldn't sacrifice Monza for Imola tho'.

[JABWOA]

Originally Posted by JohnMiller

Have they somehow multiplied the space between the pit-lane and river by a factor of about five? Ie. the "paddock."

No real difference from the space at Hungaroring.

[BSchneiderFan]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

Both Monza and Imola would be excellent. I wouldn't sacrifice Monza for Imola tho'.

Quite so. Barring 1980, the Italian GP has always been at Monza, and of course the track's history goes way back before the age of the World Championship.

[bella]

hungary has always been bernie's pet though. and like montreal, budapest is a superb city that everyone loves visiting.

the two are very similar though - hungary has a lot more space to play with in terms of car parking and places to put vips, but imola is smack bang in the middle of imola. in terms of locations it's like a much more compact monza. imola has a high speed train service but the nearest major airport is bologna...

[Matt]

~25 miles to the nearest major airport isn't far.

[bella]

anyone who knows bologna knows it's as major an airport as milan bergamo. it isn't monza has 3 within that distance. budapest just has the one but that IS a major airport.

i went to imola in 2014, and it's definitely not a modern f1 circuit. they're being used for leverege against monza the same way donington was against silverstone.

[wolfhound]

Some more information on the Italian GP saga from Joe Saward

https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2016...-italian-gp-2/

[claude2cv]

Another view of what is going on http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/op...mola-and-monza

Sean

[wolfhound]

Originally Posted by claude2cv

Another view of what is going on http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/op...mola-and-monza

Sean

Interesting, one can have great difficulty in trying to second guess Bernie at times. This one seams like a little more than trying to play Monza off against Imola but......

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by bella

hungary has always been bernie's pet though. and like montreal, budapest is a superb city that everyone loves visiting.

the two are very similar though - hungary has a lot more space to play with in terms of car parking and places to put vips, but imola is smack bang in the middle of imola. in terms of locations it's like a much more compact monza. imola has a high speed train service but the nearest major airport is bologna...

The best one was Zandvoort, where you could just walk to the circuit from your hotel, to one of the greatest race tracks in the world

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by bella

anyone who knows bologna knows it's as major an airport as milan bergamo.

Exactly. Third rate airport. Few and poor hotels. Outdated and unimaginative track. Spectator facilities for about 200. Tiny paddock, smaller than Hungary. No way F1 is going there imo

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by S griffin

The best one was Zandvoort, where you could just walk to the circuit from your hotel, to one of the greatest race tracks in the world

Or Monaco where the drivers can walk to the garages from their own apartments (or stomp back to them when things go wrong on the circuit ).

And Suzuka, where the hotel the drivers and teams use is situated inside the circuit perimeter, although there are no international airports in the vicinity, and Tokyo being an 8 hour drive away although other cities are nearer.

Mind you, South Korea's circuit was possibly the most remote (from a major international airport) of all, which was one of the main reasons why it was not popular.

[bella]

there's loads of circuits like that with some hotels close by though - it's only the newer breed of circuits in rural areas and the uk that are the same for everyone.

honestly, it's the donington park-silverstone situation. bernie is playing someone off against someone else, be it circuit owners, local government or higher ups. i'm sure it'll end up at monza regardless with imola being given a consolation prize of some sort.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by claude2cv

Another view of what is going on http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/op...mola-and-monza

Sean

thanks for sharing.

if this article is accurate it seems like a larger game is being played by BE. instead of the typical playing one circuit against another it sounds like he may be playing one circuit against several others in a hope to force a renegotiation of the commercial terms with the teams and with the sponsors.

this may be neither here nor there, but if the race number drops to 18 (imo already 21 is too many races anyways) and that results in less money coming into the sport (knock on effect being less money for teams, prizes etc) does that potentially mean F1 would have to operate on a smaller scale?

and if so then is that a bad thing?