Finding a new date for the 2020 Monaco Grand Prix was “unrealistic”, Automobile Club de Monaco president Michel Boeri claims.
This weekend should have seen Formula 1’s annual trip to the Principality for the ‘jewel in the crown’ event on the streets of Monte Carlo.
Instead, while the ongoing coronavirus situation has improved in Monaco, the inability to construct the circuit means this will be the first year since 1954 the race will not take place.
“It is not realistic,” Boeri told FIA magazine Auto.
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“To ask the 1500 volunteers to switch their availability from May to August, or companies, some of which are far from here, to come back and build the circuit later? It was impossible. We were stuck.
“In addition, we are not the only ones in the Principality of Monaco: there are so many events between August and October, we cannot overlap, especially when we know that it takes us 45 days to build the circuit and 25 to deconstruct.”
Naturally, the ACM president also admitted how the decision to cancel an event as historic as the Monaco GP was far from easy.
“Everything was in place, the construction of the circuit had started and we had already sold more than 80 per cent of the tickets,” he revealed.
“Unfortunately, it became impossible to fight against an epidemic that was gaining ground, and with the FIA and Formula 1 announcing that the events of the month of May could not be held, we had no other choice.
“Such a decision was not taken lightly, and after careful consideration as to the gravity of this crisis worldwide.”
Other street races are having similar issues with Singapore now appearing unlikely to take place due to the coronavirus situation there, though Baku is hoping to take the slot of the city-state on September 20 with a Grand Prix including fans.