Formula 1 will take control of Monaco Grand Prix television coverage for the first time ever at next weekend's race, Mirror Sport understands.
As this weekend's race at Imola was called off, the teams will be transporting all their equipment to the principality for their next outing. And the on-site F1 production team will follow them after a deal was stuck with race organisers.
It means, for the next three years starting with next weekend's race, TV coverage of the Monaco Grand Prix will be produced by F1 themselves, rather than Tele Monte Carlo. The move will have no effect on which channels will carry the feed, with Sky Sports still the UK broadcaster for live action.
But fans will hope that it leads to improvements being made to the production, given some high-profile errors made during broadcasts of the race in recent seasons. Most notably, in 2021, the director cut away from an intense battle between Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly to show a replay of Lance Stroll misjudging a corner.
And last year's race was no different as several eye-catching moves were omitted completely from the main broadcast feed. As a result, fans missed clashes between Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon, Mick Schumacher and Alex Albon, and a George Russell overtake on Lando Norris on the wet side of the track.
Throughout the 2000s, F1 brought the production of many races in-house, with one team usually on-site in the paddock and supported remotely at its facility in Biggin Hill.
But while all other races changed to follow that uniform process, Monaco has remained the exception to the rule. The 'Crown Jewel' of the F1 calendar has enjoyed special treatment in a number of ways, perhaps most notably in that organisers pay a substantially lower hosting fee than others around the world.
However, while it was once unthinkable that Monaco's place on the F1 calendar might be under threat, that appears to no longer be the case. Modern races on the tight street track have largely been dull affairs in recent years, with overtaking very difficult especially now that the cars are so large.
Despite adding several new venues in recent years, F1 bosses remain open to the possibility of more with a return to Africa a priority and Asia a target market. With the annual race calendar unlikely to go beyond 24 races per season, any further additions will mean some established European races – including Monaco – might be forced to rotate on a bi-annual basis.
