(Reuters) – Monaco is still discussing a new contract with Formula One but the future of the showcase race beyond this year is assured, according to the head of organisers the Automobile Club de Monaco.
ACM president Michel Boeri hit back at media reports that Monaco was in danger of dropping off the calendar for financial reasons after 2022.
“It was suggested that Liberty Media’s demands were too excessive for Monaco and the Grand Prix would no longer be held,” France’s Auto Hebdo magazine quoted Boeri as saying of the reports.
“That’s not true. We are still in talks with them and we must now make it concrete by signing a contract. I can guarantee you that after 2022 the Grand Prix will continue to take place.
“I don’t know if the contract will be for three or five years, but that’s a detail.”
Monaco featured on the very first Formula One world championship calendar in 1950 and has long been considered a jewel in the sport’s crown and a race every driver dreams of winning.
However, it now faces competition from the likes of Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Miami and Las Vegas in the glamour stakes, with some suggesting Monaco needs to modernise and pay more to host the race.
McLaren boss Zak Brown told Reuters this month that Monaco “needs to come up to the same commercial terms as other grands prix”.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by…)
