Monza could undergo a significant transformation to celebrate the circuit’s 100th birthday in 2022 and to save the future of the Italian Grand Prix.
The iconic venue, which has only failed to host Formula 1 once since 1950, has been struggling financially in recent years leading to questions over the future of the race.
Despite that, La Gazzetta dello Sport is quoting the president of the Automobile Club D’Italia, Angelo Sticchi Damiani, as claiming 100m Euros will be spent upgrading the Autodromo.
“The money will be found in some way,” he said.
Plans had previously been put forward to alter the Monza layout several years ago before being dropped but now new ideas are being put forward which would actually restore some previous changes.
The second Lesmo bend could be widened back to how it was pre the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994 and there’s also hopes to take out one of the first two chicanes.
La Gazzetta’s report claims the Roggia chicane would be the preferred choice but that would seemingly contradict previous evaluations that such a change couldn’t be done because of the lack of run-off at the first Lesmo bend which also can’t be extended.
The track itself will also be widened to meet the FIA minimum requirement of 12m with Monza currently given an exemption to that rule because of its historical status.
“This is a work that we can already do in 2019,” Damiani claimed. “We want to recover the ring in order to expand our offer. The road course and the high-speed oval are a 10 km track combined, how many others can boast something similar?”
All of this is dependent on a new F1 deal with Liberty Media with a “long-term contract” the goal of the ACI president but based on negotiations with the various local governments, Damiani concedes it is a “very complicated” situation with the parties still “very far apart”.