Both FIA president Jean Todt and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo have questioned the viability of the proposed Rome Grand Prix, set to take a place on the calendar from 2013, according to quotes in the Italian media.
Bernie Ecclestone claims that he is close to completing a deal that will see a Rome street race run together on the F1 calendar with the existing Italian Grand Prix at Monza from the 2013 season.
But there has been a big political backlash against the plan in the Monza area, with the Monza mayor Marco Mariani claiming that the Rome race was an "act of arrogance" by the Italian capital.
Monza representatives are concerned that the introduction of the Rome race will pave the way for Monza to be dropped from the schedule, despite the high-speed Monza track having been a near ever-present fixture on the F1 calendar since the inception of the championship in 1950.
And neither Todt nor di Montezemolo seem particularly happy with the state of affairs, according to a report in the Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday, Di Montezemolo in particular was quick to defend the history of Monza.
"Without Monza, it's not F1," the Italian was quoted as saying, "That event is the past, the present and the future. And a move to Rome is not going to happen."
Meanwhile, new FIA President Todt said that he did not see it being feasible for the F1 schedule to accomodate two Italian races.
"Is it conceivable to have two grands prix of Italy? I would say no," the Frenchman said in the report.
"I would say that in the future an Italian and a European Grand Prix could coexist, but this will depend on the programme and by the processing of applications from the promoter."
Ecclestone, though, who has spoken recently of aiming to swell the F1 calendar to 25 races in future, is pushing on with his plans for the Rome race.
He told the UK Daily Telegraph newspaper during the Monaco GP weekend that the plans for the street race were "moving forward".
"That is going to be good," he added about the race, though he admitted that: "It's a bit political, obviously."
Monza recently signed an extension to its current GP contract that guarantees it a place on the schedule until the 2016 season.
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