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Monaco F1 race feels pinch of financial crisis
1 hour, 29 minutes ago


MONACO(AP)-Stands are empty, hotel rooms available and tickets unsold.

Formula One's most glamorous race, the Monaco GP, is feeling the pinch of the global financial crisis.

Formula One's slim-downed, cost-conscious version arrives in Monaco, one of the world's wealthiest states, for the 67th time. But the atmosphere is clearly different this year.

Although there will be movie stars and models frolicking aboard two-story yachts as always, the downturn has touched the tax haven many F1 drivers call home.

There were empty seats during Thursday's first practice day and thousands of the 45,000 tickets were still available on Friday for Sunday's 78-lap race.


"I was this week in the port and there are clearly less boats than other years," said Williams driver Nico Rosberg, who has lived most his life in Monaco. "Everyone in Monaco has been affected by the crisis. Probably the majority of the wealthiest here have lost an enormous amount of money."

Several drivers have already noted a dip from last year, when Monaco Automobile Club president Michel Boeri said the ACM pulled in $140 million combined from its motor sport events, which includes a well-known rally.

Boeri expects profits to dip by 20-22 percent this year, despite the glitz and glamor of the neighboring Cannes Film Festival - where Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino have already graced the red carpet.

This year, it's much easier to navigate the small alleys in the center of the city, behind the main grandstand where people appear to be doing more window shopping.

"With the first race in Spain, we saw a huge difference. People are spending on less expensive items instead of buying a lot of products," said Genevieve Blouin, a 26-year-old Montreal native who manages Ferrari stands at each of the season's 17 races. "They've cut down."

Prices, however, haven't dropped at any of the souvenir booths, with F1 teams setting the price on baseball caps ($42) or team shirts ($90). Nor have they fallen around the famed Casino Corner, an iconic bend in the circuit that provides one of the most glamorous TV shots of the race, as cars wind past a bounty of five-star hotels.

Some of those rooms, like many apartments that are available to rent, sit empty as companies find it difficult to justify hospitality spending.

Classified ads dot the local newspaper with offers of apartments to rent. Rooms at L'Hermitage, a five-star hotel, remain at the standard $11,025 for a four-night stay. A suite costs $23,865.

"There's nobody. It's already a terrible year," said 42-year-old taxi driver Yves, who gave only his first name. "It was much busier last year."

Perhaps most telling is that no one has yet offered $70,000 for an exclusive bottle of cognac.

A 100-year-old bottle of Remy Martin Louis VIII "Black Pearl" - one of only 358 in the world - has been encased in a glass case at "Le Bar Americain" for eight months now.

The arrival of the F1 race has yet to provide a buyer.