Vettel: Lose Monza and you rip our hearts out

Sebastian Vettel has called out Formula 1's governing bodies to work out a way to retain the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, declaring that by losing it for 'shitty money reasons' is akin to 'ripping our hearts out'.

One of the oldest and most historic rounds in F1, the Italian GP nonetheless remains very much under threat as Bernie Ecclestone and organisers struggle to agree a new contract, with the latter party declaring it cannot afford to meet the hosting fees set by the commercial rights holders.

Though there was hope of a resolution ahead of this year's race, which an increasing number fear could be the last, negotiation are continuing to rumble on behind the scenes with no clear indication of a resolution either way.

However, for drivers, Monza remains at the heart of F1, with Vettel - who finished second in his first Italian GP as a Ferrari driver - candidly leading the call to ensure the event remains on the F1 schedule based on the fan support alone.

"It is the best second place I have ever had," he said. "The emotions on the podium are incredible. If we take this away from the calendar for any shitty money reasons, I think you are basically ripping out hearts out. We are here, we are racing and this makes it so much more worthwhile.

"You stand on the grid, you look to the left, you look to the right, people are just happy to be part of it and it makes our day. It is as simple as that, it is incredible. Thank you for this emotion on behalf of the whole Ferrari team."

His views were echoed by fellow podium winners Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, who said more needs to be done to ensure historic races are retained alongside new events.

"It is one of the best tracks in the world, so this has to stay here for moral reasons," the Mercedes driver said. You have all these fans who come here every single year, so if you took this away and put another one in, you would not have that same special impact. We definitely need to keep it.

"You cannot take out the history of F1," Massa added. "Here is the history of F1, here is a part of everything F1 has, thanks to the people. We race for the people and when you see the podium with people like that, I think we cannot lose it. This is part of our blood and we cannot lose these races.

"I would like to go to the old countries. I think we go to amazing [new] countries, many that I didn't know where they were before, but you cannot lose something which is inside the blood as well."