by VALERIO BARRETTA
Monza towards the future
With the track and pit lane paving works, the kerb resurfacing and the underpass redevelopment/construction completed, Monza is looking to the future. A future that has a very specific date: it is the 2026the year that ACI president Angelo Damiani Sticks would like it as the “start” of the new contract with F1 and the deadline by which to complete all the works on the plant.
The track and underpasses are just some of the points of the initial 77 million euro business plan drawn up in 2019 and which will be updated in light of the increase in prices due to the impact of the Coronavirus (the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Matteo Salvini has promised around 30 million more to reaffirm government support for Monza). The other points concern the definitive coverage of the boxes (the current system is assembled and dismantled in a week and costs hundreds of thousands of euros), the construction of a new pressroom by reducing smaller volumes in removable structures, the concession to F1 of the current press room (which for Sticchi Damiani is very large compared to the needs) also to hope for a discount on the fee that the GP pays to the Circus to participate in the World Championship and themodernization of the stands increasing comfort for the viewer.
The words of Sticchi Damiani
“As for the cost of the works, we are around 32-33 million of the 87 that were assigned to us by the Ministry and the Region“, these are his words at the press conference. “We divide two types of work: those that are necessary to implement the contract and other important works that we had to postpone to 2026. We have regular coverage for the first ones: we will do our best to do every job in 2025 but probably some will go to 2026. In the first block of works there should be the first six stands, then there are all the others. We must aim over time to have stands that are also hospitable, that have the possibility of catering underneath, air conditioning and a moment of relaxation; possibly, for some, the skybox. It is on these issues that there is competition: people come here and give up watching the GPs at home because they want to experience this atmosphere, they want to be not spectators but participants in a great event“.
The contract issue
The Monza contract, as is known, expires in 2025, so the GP on September 1st becomes fundamental to show Formula 1 how much work has been done and to obtain the renewal in the calendar: “We have to sign the contract with F1 quickly, we are late. There is one year left until the deadline and usually they are signed two years in advance. We have worked hard in these years, we have had a very attentive and available interlocutor in front of us” added Sticchi Damiani, referring to Stefano Sundays. “We know at this time that enjoy a better position compared to the others. We accept that we will have to increase costs but in the meantime we try to give F1 the opportunity to host a paddock club from which they could obtain resources to compensate. We hope that there can be a small discount. We want this racetrack, in addition to being the most beautiful in the world, to be in step with the times“. Currently Monza pays around 20 million euros a year to F1 to be on the calendar, one hypothesis could be that of an agreement of 150 million euros in five years (or 300 million for a decade), but Sticchi Damiani is naturally aiming to get a more advantageous figure.
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