A calendar with more than 20 Grand Prix soon a reality
Until now, there could not be more than 20 Grand Prix per season, but with the arrival of the new Concorde Agreements, that should change. This was revealed by Bernie Ecclestone.
In the current Concorde Agreements, it is specified that teams must give their consent if a season has more than 17 Grand Prix, which is the case this year, with 20 Grand Prix scheduled on the calendar – the limit set by the Concorde Agreements.
Starting in 2013, Formula 1 will be governed by new Concorde Agreements, and Bernie Ecclestone, the managing director of F1’s commercial rights, revealed that this limit had been raised to organize more races during a season and thus earn more money through the fees paid by the different host countries.
For now, these new Concorde Agreements have not been signed by all the teams, but Bernie Ecclestone told CNN that he is confident about Mercedes signing in the future: «I am convinced that everything will go well with Mercedes.»
Ecclestone confided, as quoted by the Guardian, that with these new agreements there was the possibility of having more flexibility to go beyond 20 races per season. This should allow for the future organization of a Grand Prix near New York, in Russia, and a possible return of France or South Africa. Ecclestone also confident that there are 4 or 5 countries waiting to be included in the F1 calendar.
Another country that appears to be a candidate for hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix is Thailand, which seems tempted to emulate Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, or Singapore by using F1 to attract more tourists.
Thailand will also host the Race of Champions this year, with the aim of hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix in the coming years, as stated by the Minister of Tourism and Sports in a statement covered by Reuters: This race will be a perfect opportunity for Thais to see the best drivers in the world and it represents a new step for the government in its efforts to promote racing and motorsports in the Kingdom. Therefore, we aim to bring Formula 1 to Thailand as well.
The limit of 20 races has often been considered a maximum limit given the travel and journeys around the world that it implies for all team members. Sebastian Vettel recently expressed to Servus TV that this is already a high limit and that it will be complicated to have more Grand Prix in a season: “I think 20 is a good number, but it’s a high number. Not only for us, the drivers, but for the whole team, the entire paddock as well. Traveling with back-to-back weekend races is not easy, I think we need to be aware of that. We have races increasingly far across the globe so that does not make things easier. So I think we should stick to 20 races.”
