Formula 1 bosses could be set to axe the Monaco Grand Prix in favour of the new Las Vegas, which has been officially confirmed to join the calendar next season. Stefano Domenicali described the Las Vegas event as the “flagship race” in Formula 1 within years, a title previously reserved for the classic Monaco race.
Meanwhile, clouds have hung over the circuit’s future for a while as its deal is different to other tracks. For years Monaco paid less to host an Formula 1 race than other promoters due to the spectacle it brought to the sport. The Race informs that F1 was “known to want more money” from Monaco with the principality having lost its special deal. Meanwhile, early predictions suggest F1 could earn up to £1billion from the new Las Vegas race over 10 years. At the same time, Monaco is one of several tracks that have not yet signed a deal in order to remain on the calendar past the 2022 F1 championship.
For Formula 1 fans, a World Championship without the Monte-Carlo Grand Prix would be an absolute novelty, but most likely it would be a change welcomed by many fans, because – as we know – overtaking is an impossible task on the streets of Monte Carlos (if not in the pits), and the only hope of seeing an eventful race is rain. With a dry race, whoever is in front after the first corner has a good 90% chance of taking home the final victory. Not an ideal situation for a sports that aims to improve the so called ‘show’, and which introduced new rules and regulations for the current season with that specific goal in mind.
According to the well-known journalist Joe Saward, a Formula 1 without Monte-Carlo is a hypothesis to should not be discarded. To date, in fact, there is no contract for 2023, and while many other circuits are competing to enter the calendar (the latest official announcement was made yesterday, as the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix will be held in 2023), Monaco seems to take the news calmly: “Now Europe has a few too many races on the Formula 1 calendar. Of course, F1 has grown on the Old Continent, but this does not mean that it should only race in Europe. Countries where F1 has raced multiple times, such as South Africa, are off the calendar right now. Over time, Europe will lose even more races, for sure. Europeans, understood as the people of the continent and therefore also the British, are Euro-centric: they believe that Formula 1 belongs to them and not to the world, which is a lot of nonsense, because F1 has grown: it was a European sport, but it is now global. It wants to be big in China, and it really should be aiming for two races in China. If we put it on the level of the population, there are relatively few Europeans. Among other things, Monaco can leave the calendar, because there is no contract for the future”, these are the words of Joe Saward, in his recent interview with Missed Apex Podcast.
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“The 2022 event could be the last Monaco Grand Prix. The point is, they are having a hard time negotiating the new deal. The last was done 11 years ago by Bernie Ecclestone and Michel Boeri (president of the Automobile Club de Monaco), who are now 91 and 83 years old respectively. They think that Monaco will always be part of the calendar, and Boeri is not willing to give up on his demands, while Formula 1 does not like aspects of the circuit, such as the very shabby billboards, the not very good hospitality and also the fact that they pay far less to be on the calendar because they think they are more important than the other races. This is probably not the case anymore, because there are races that may not be as big as Monte-Carlo in the European way of thinking, but which are the most important for other cultures. In Asia, the most important race is Singapore. Formula 1 and Monte-Carlo have to discuss again, but all the other promoters are negotiating quickly, while there is nothing new as regards to Monte-Carlo. Certainly Monaco and F1 can count on each other, because without F1 Monaco is not such a fascinating place, and the same can be said of the F1 calendar without Monaco. They have to find a compromise: I don’t know if they will succeed, and they certainly have to change the track.” – the British Formula One journalist concluded.
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