Ecclestone Vows to Scrap Traditional Races for New Ones

Formula One will be looking to update their calendar in the upcoming few years, as some of the venues that are currently hosting F1 races are approaching their terminating years of contract with the FOM (governing body of the series, headed by Bernie Ecclestone).

The 79-year old Brit made no secret from his intention to add some spicy new Grands Prix to the F1 calendar in the years to come, the main targets being the capital of Italy Rome and New York's Manhattan area. While insisting that he is trying to pull all the right strings in order to secure those two races, Ecclestone admitted Russia is also in sight for a future grand prix.

“We'll make a decision in the next couple of months. We're going to lose some races for sure, there are some races we can afford to lose without too many problems. I've spoken to the countries to see what we can come up with,” said Ecclestone in an interview with Bloomberg.

As far as the Russian nation is concerned, it seems “Moscow or the resort city Sochi are the possible venues,” as reported by the GMM news agency.

According to some rumors, the FOM chief executive is looking to scrap at least one Spanish race from the calendar – as the nation currently holds its traditional Spanish GP in Barcelona and the European GP at Valencia – while allowing new venues to enter the series. So far, Korea and India have already been confirmed for the 2010 and 2011 championships respectively, which would bring the number of races in a single F1 season to 20.

However, from 2012 onwards, Ecclestone would have to make room for New York, Russia and Rome, and apparently the 79-year old Brit is considering to scrap the “traditional races” in F1, rather than take out a newly entrant.

From the “traditional” F1 venues that are currently part of the series, Silverstone, Monza and Montreal are the only ones who have recently secured multi-year extensions to their deals.