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Formula One staying at Monza
ESPNF1 Staff
March 19, 2010
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Billboard of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza © Getty Images
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Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has signed an agreement to keep the Italian Grand Prix at Monza until at least 2016.
There had been fears that the historic circuit, which has hosted nearly every Italian Grand Prix since 1922, might lose its place on the Formula One calendar when its contract expired in 2012 due to the expected introduction of a Rome Grand Prix.
Ecclestone, however, put pen to paper on a four-year extension with Sias, the track's managers, which will see the race continue at Monza where it has taken place almost every year on the outskirts of Milan. "The news reported by Sias is very positive, but from tomorrow we will start working on a further extension of the grand prix at Monza until at least 2021," local mayor Marco Mariani told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
He added that he does not even support the "coexistence" of Monza alongside Rome on a future F1 calendar, but the Italian capital's mayor Gianni Alemanno does not agree. "By 2012 or 2013 Italy can boast the enviable situation of having two grands prix, which will be mutually beneficial in promoting tourism and sports," he said.
The only other circuit to have hosted the Italian Grand Prix is Imola, which hosted the Italian Grand Prix in 1980.
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