Monaco unmoved by Ecclestone comments

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The Automobile Club de Monaco has played down remarks attributed to Bernie Ecclestone by some media earlier this week.

Ecclestone was claimed to have said the famous round could be dropped from the world championship. A statement issued by the event organisers said:

The Automobile Club de Monaco does not intend to comment on the statement attributed to Mr Ecclestone regarding the future of the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Assuming that the media who reported the statement checked it for validity with Mr Ecclestone, one has to take into account the context and intention behind the statement.

The reality is quite simple: The Automobile Club de Monaco and Formula One Management are currently engaged in negotiations.

When the time comes and an agreement is reached, the Automobile Club de Monaco will issue a press release.

Monaco has featured in every year of the world championship since 1955.

It is the only race on the calendar which retains the income earned from advertising at the circuit during its Grand Prix weekend. The signage rights for the other circuits are controlled by Allsport Management, which also runs the Formula One Paddock Club.

Read more: F1 2011 Season

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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35 comments on “Monaco unmoved by Ecclestone comments”

  1. Perfect response by The Automobile Club de Monaco…

  2. TheGreatCornholio
    22nd July 2010, 14:19

    Indeed, great response from them! Helmut Marko could learn a thing or two from them:)

    1. Helmut Marko could learn things from my 2 years old cousin…

      1. Sush Meerkat
        22nd July 2010, 16:04

        No way, Helmut has already mastered the art of a tantrum.

        hehe, sorry I’m not saying your 2 year old cousin actually has tantrums dude.

        1. UneedAFinn2Win
          23rd July 2010, 19:36

          heh, they all do, regardless of nationality, so assume away…

  3. I can guarentee that Monaco will be there next year and it will continualy appear, if it is true that the principality gets a free GP, it seems only right that Ecclestone tries to get some money out of the race, if Monaco is keeping all income then surely it should have to pay just like every other round.

  4. That’s a classy response. It says everything.

  5. I think they mean the GP there is supported by the principality’s government rather than the Automobile Club de Monaco paying for it themselves. Bernie still gets immense amounts of cash from it, sounds like he wants more.

    sigh

    1. no, the monaco gp is, essentially, a freebie.

  6. we can do without monaco, singapore & valencia. we need more of Silverstone, Spa & Montreal like circuits…

    there is no fun in watching 20 odd cars in procession for the entire race.

  7. The FIA should have a list of approved F1 circuits, and any new circuit that is built would need to be added to the list in order for it to be used on the F1 calendar.

    Once this is done, the approved circuits can join together and form ‘The FOAC’ (Federation of Approved Circuits). This will allow them to work together to negotiate fair and equal fees, distribution of revenues, and so on, with the FOM. Then, they can create a treaty or an ‘agreement’ and call it ‘The Condor Agreement’ to which these new fees and such can be applied.

    This will eventually lead to the circuits wanting to form a break-away from the FIA and FOM and start their own federation of approved racing categories that are added to an FOAC list of approved categories.

    That shouldn’t be too complicated.
    They should get on that!

    1. Careful, Bernie is getting on a bit. You could give him a nasty turn by such suggestions

  8. I would be very surprised if F1 ever chooses not to have a race at Monaco.

    Granted it may not produce great races now, but it is still regarded as the jewel in the crown for F1.

    I think if Ecclestone tried to charge Monaco as much as other circuits Monaco would just decide to stop having the GP, as I think F1 needs Monaco more than Monaco needs F1.

    1. I think F1 adds a lot of glamour to Monaco by giving an excuse for all the glamourous people to come out for one large event. But Monaco will remain exclusive and fashionable regardless of whether F1 visits. And although F1 will reamin exclusive, without Monaco it will probably become less fashionable. Also, despite the races not being spectacular, they still look great. It’s worth watching because of the crashes, the close barriers and the brilliant surroundings. F1 would suffer without Monaco.

      1. I couldnt have said it better myself, Matt90!

      2. Not to mention the fact that the drivers all love Monaco both for the history, and for the chance to race at the speeds they do inches from the barriers on normal city streets…

  9. I’ve recently been to Monaco (stayed at David Coulthard’s old hotel, the ‘Columbus’!!), and in my hotel room was an F1 mag…

    The magazine mainly had ridiculously expensive yachts and property advertised, but one really interesting article about the GP.

    Apparently, Monaco pay FOM £7m for the privilege of staging the GP. Can you guess Monaco’s ROI??

    1700%!!!!!!!!!!!!

    As much as Monaco really doesn’t need F1, I think they’d miss the revenue!

    For those of you wondering what 1700% on £7m is, it amounts to £126,000,000!

    1. Which magazine was that in? Paddock?

      1. That’s the one, definitely.

        It was actually quite a good read, but like I said, the majority of articles related to £50m yachts!

        Still, the F1 stuff they did cover was certainly from a different angle than I’m used to reading.

        What was cool, was how they broke down each part of the track and how much was spent by companies advertising, how much they (those advertising) made from it and their brand exposure.

        1. I’d really like to get a copy of that. Sounds very interesting as it’s a recurring question I’ve been asking on here for some time time…

  10. Bernie, Bernie, Bernie. Stop with the Tilke newbies that make you a few extra millions and stick with the classics. You’ll still have enough money to afford to buy every f1 fan in the world a cheeseburger…

    1. Hey yeah, I want my cheesburger!!

  11. If Bernie wants to shake down the principality for a bigger fee he should remember the Monaco is one of the few F1 races broadcast on network TV in the U.S. and probably the only one most U.S. race fans see every year (no one is skipping a barbecue to see Turkey, tape-delayed). F1 without Monaco will disappear from the U.S. radar, with or without the grand prix in Texas.

    1. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I dont think the monaco GP was broadcast on network TV in the states this year. If I remember correctly, Fox’s network channel only broadcast the Canadian, European, British, and (forthcoming) german GPs, leaving Speed to show the rest of the races.

      1. You are correct sir. Monaco is broadcast on SPEED.

        1. Also, last I checked, SPEED showed the race live, which is like 8 am or so EDT. How many live Monaco races have really interrupted those oh so important 8 am bbqs? Or did you just put in the tape-delayed business as an oopsy, because most of us in the States see the races tape delayed.

          Regardless, while a loss of Monaco would be a MAJOR shame, I honestly don’t think the average American would even notice.

          1. Honestly, If Monaco is the US’s only major exposure to F1, I’m not surprised that it’s not popular here.

            Track isn’t a whole lot different than Valencia when you strip away the glitz and history associated with it.

            Elevation change is about the only good thing it has.

    2. My mistake. It used to be on ABC I believe and used to be the only race so broadcast.

  12. Bernie now thinks that he should also collect money from Monaco.Then why didn’t the idea came to his mind years back.

    Monaco needs to stays on the calender name one more race where the best part of the lap you have to spend so close to the barriers & if you are millimeter wrong then you are in trouble.I think F1 won’t be F1 if we don’t have certain track on the calender just like Monaco.So I think it should stay & I guess Monaco will pay some money to Bernie to keep him happy.

    1. “Then why didn’t the idea came to his mind years back.”

      Because he is getting old …

  13. Didn’t Ecclestone always admit that Monaco was the one GP which gave more to F1 than F1 gave to it?…

    1. Well it’s Bernie saying it, so he probably thought, they might give just a tad more!

  14. I wonder how much we can learn about the state of FOM’s relationship with its creditor’s from this?
    After all, if Bernie is willing to start demanding more from Monaco, and to upset the ACM, how far is he having to go to get the money in?
    How will he explain to all the US film stars that the one F1 race they know about and like to be seen at won’t be there next year, and that maybe they should try visiting China or Korea instead? :-)

  15. jose arellano
    23rd July 2010, 18:18

    ok drop monaco, bring macau

  16. Mark in Florida
    23rd July 2010, 23:44

    Monaco is a connection to the old days,the old glory.To try and shake down the principality for more money is like stealing from your grandma.Yes there are better tracks and better racing,but Monaco is about class and style something you don’t see at other tracks.Bernie can’t buy class like that at any price.I watch Monaco and Suzuka no matter whats going on.I want to see them live.There are only so many classics left now and that is a shame.If Monaco leaves Bernie will have sucked the life right out of F1.

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