The F1 calendar will for the first time feature a grand prix in Rome and nineteen other races in 2013, Bernie Ecclestone has announced.
It has long been the ambition of the sport’s chief executive to extend the annual schedule to 20 races, while it was already known that the Briton had approved a future street race in the Italian capital.
"Rome will come onto the calendar in 2013. We will have 20 races and the teams will be happy with it," the 79-year-old is quoted as saying by the German-language Speedweek.
Previously, it had been expected that the inauguration of a race in Rome would not be to the detriment of Monza’s historic Italian grand prix.
But Letizia Moratti, mayor of the nearby Milan, is now worried that Monza is set to lose its race at the famous Autodromo Nazionale.
"I think competition between cities is right, but it is equally correct to respect their traditions," she is quoted as saying by the Ansa news agency.