Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said a deal for the future of the Italian Grand Prix after this season is still in limbo as politics have made the situation a more complicated affair.
The future of the circuit remains uncertain as there’s no contract beyond 2016. The historic circuit has been on the Formula 1 race calendar every year since the championship started back in 1950 apart from 1980, when the Italian race switched over to Imola.
“It’s Italian. A lot of conversations at the moment and not much action,” Ecclestone told Reuters when asked about ongoing negotiations. “They said to me a few months ago ‘everything is sorted out, we know exactly where we are and it’s all agreed and no dramas’.
“And now I heard yesterday it’s become very political…they’ll get on with it. Or not. Nothing we can do about it.”
In September president of the Lombardy region, Roberto Maroni said he was 99.9 percent sure that a deal would be complete by the end of 2015. Last month, it was revealed by the president of the Automobile Club of Italy, Angelo Sticchi Damiani that only minor details of the contract needed to be resolved, with the hope that a deal can be brokered before the end of this month to retain the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
However, talks between Ecclestone and Damiani have proved inconclusive, with the media reports believing that one point of disagreement was over financial guarantees for circuit improvements.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s a little bit Italian at the moment. The only people that can sort this out are the people that are currently involved in Italy,” said Ecclestone.
“There’s no deadline. They can take as long as they like, provided it’s by the end of this month.”
