The organizers of the Monaco Grand Prix have responded to Bernie Ecclestone’s statement about how Formula 1 doesn’t need their historic, pageant-filled race.
To sum it up: Bernie is a slightly annoying bug.
Here’s their communique, in French — it doesn’t seem to exist at the English version of the Automobile Club de Monaco’s website:
L’Automobile Club de Monaco n’entend pas commenter la déclaration prêtée à Monsieur Ecclestone se rapportant à l’avenir du Grand Prix de Monaco de Formule 1.
En supposant que cette information ait été vérifiée auprès de Monsieur Ecclestone par les Média qui s’en sont fait l’écho, encore faudrait-il interpréter le contexte et l’esprit de cette déclaration.
La réalité est bien plus simple : une négociation est en cours entre l’Automobile Club de Monaco et la Formula One Management.
Le moment venu, l’Automobile Club ne manquera pas de communiquer dès la signature d’un accord.
Basically, they say don’t want to comment (even though they are), and then they somewhat question the legitimacy of the quote from Ecclestone and say everyone needs to keep in mind the context, which is simply that negotiations are going on with F1, and end by saying they’ll let us know when an accord/deal is signed.
In other words, like most of us, they understand how Bernie operates, but they’re Monaco, for bleeping bleep’s sake, and they aren’t going to be intimidated or upset by his typical blather.
Which is great for them, and to their credit, but bad for those looking for a long, drawn-out fight!