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F1's managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn has suggested that the sport could adopt a league table ranking system to ensure the most popular events are kept on the calendar. For the upcoming season, the calendar will feature a record matching 21 races.
And while Brawn admits that the calendar could grow even further, he has proposed the idea of promotion and relegation to keep "great races in great locations" as part of the schedule. The Briton states that the quality of the races should outway the number of events throughout the year.
"The crucial thing is the quality of the race. There's no value in just putting the number of races up," Brawn told British Airways' Business Life magazine. "But if we can provide great races in great locations throughout the world, then we should consider it.
"I'd love to see in the future a league table of races, where over time we've got a waiting list of top-class circuits and promoters that are waiting to get into Formula 1, and then if there's any race that is not working well, you relegate that and put a strong race in."
Malaysia, a popular race among fans, drops off the calendar for the 2018 season after the organisers decided it wasn't worth the investment anymore. However, France will return after a ten-year absence while Hockenheim will host the German Grand Prix, which didn't feature in 2017.
F1's owners Liberty Media are keen to introduce a second race in the US, with the Circuit of the Americas in Austin currently running the US Grand Prix. Plans are also underway in Denmark after Chase Carey visited its capital Copenhagen to discuss a possible race around its streets.
Fergal Walsh
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
Pauli
Posts: 140
Too bad most people equal number of action including crashes and mistakes to equal how good a race is. For my a few of the best F1 moments were those great qualifications where one or two drivers made near perfect laps on the limit of car control.