FIA Unable to Keep Historical Venues in F1

The International Automobile Federation has no means of counteracting Bernie Ecclestone's policy of switching from old historical circuits to new venues. FIA's president Max Mosley did not mention whether he agrees with Bernie's view of the F1 future or not, but revealed that the international body has no power over F1's commercial rights.

So basically, Ecclestone can do what he wants in terms of appointing certain circuits in the F1 schedule. As confirmed by Mosley himself, if the F1 supreme wants to change all traditional venues from one year to another, there's nothing FIA can do to prevent it from happening.

“We have to be reasonable as to the financial terms and facilities (of races on the calendar). The FIA can't put pressure on Bernie to race in the UK for less than other countries would pay for us to race elsewhere,” argued Mosley, referring to the current situation of Great Britain within the calendar of Formula 1.

This year's British Grand Prix will be hosted for the last time by Silverstone circuit (the very place where Formula 1 started back in 1950), as the Northamptonshire venue is due to be replaced by Donington Park in 2010. However, the concern of British fans not having a Grand Prix of their own in the near future appeared after Ecclestone warned that Donington Park will be excluded from the F1 calendar if work on its infrastructure will not be finished by September 2009.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal and Magny-Cours of France were also left out of the F1 calendar for the upcoming seasons due to financial problems. In exchange, F1 will travel to new locations like Singapore (already made debut in 2008), Abu Dhabi or even India (most likely in 2011).