Three-time world champion Jackie Stewart fears for the future of F1 in Europe.

Think of the Nurburgring - the real circuit, the Nordschleife, not the Mickey Mouse version next door which has been in use since 1984, and it is hard not to think of Jackie Stewart; iconic images of him leaping over one of the notorious bumps in the BRM, appearing out of the fog in the Matra or wrestling the Tyrrell through the Karussell.

As Germany is dropped from the 2015 calendar, Bernie Ecclestone admitting that it might not return in 2016 even though Hockenheim has a contract, and Monza struggles to agree a new deal, Stewart fears for the future of F1 in Europe.

Talking to the Associated Press he said that it is "essential" that there always be a place on the calendar for the classic events such as Italy, Britain, France and Germany, as they helped "motorsport to become what it is today".

"That sounds like me being a purist," he said. "But you have to respect history. They should always be on the calendar.

"It's terrific we have a United States Grand Prix, a Brazilian Grand Prix, one in Bahrain, and that we are going to new countries," he added. "But you still have to respect your heritage."

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1. Posted by scf1fan, 02/04/2015 13:26

"Guess I'll be the nay-sayer here today . . . (and that pains me in as much as I grew up watching F1 being European . . . )

F1 today is a world sport, and unfortunately, a money sport. As long as there are countries/governments willing to throw money at the FIA (Bambino Inc., or whomever is in the real control of the sport) the races will nominally go to the top 20 or so bidders. Right now, Europe is a bit tired of footing the bill for these uber-costly events, and the US has its primary racing interests elsewhere - giving a more perceived bang for the buck.

Perhaps in future years, (maybe not so distant with oil now below $50/barrel) the current crop of high bidders will be less flushed with cash and their interest will dissipate; then the cost of hosting an F1 even will become more cost driven than the current crop of prestige driven events. Hopefully there will always be the handful of "classic" races, but the rest of the season could then be filled with one-offs or intermittent races scattered around the world. If and/or when the cost of hosting an event comes down, then the "older" circuits will have a better chance of affording them.

And would that really be so bad? To visit courses like Kyalami, or Indy, or where ever once every 4 or 5 years? In some ways, that might prove a more interesting draw than just repeating some of the current circuits year after year after year just because they have the money! Since more and more of us watch the races on TV anyway, the actual location of the events becomes less important anyway. Having a challenging course should be the primary draw, having it in a unique or historic setting would then be the "icing" on the cake."

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2. Posted by Spindoctor, 02/04/2015 12:51

"One of the more dispiriting aspects of how the modern "entrepreneurial" world works is the conflation of notions like "tradition" and "history" with being out of touch "uncool" and somehow weak & ineffectual in the "real world".

Bernie's constant attempts to pull this particular trick: suggesting that Spa, Monza, Silverstone etc. are somehow from "yesterday" and that whatever despotic state is his flavour of the day is "today" are typical."

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3. Posted by HappyHippyBiker, 02/04/2015 11:17

"Stewart is right. Nuff said"

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4. Posted by CL, 02/04/2015 10:44

"Made me smile that the USA is seen as "new world" as far as motor sports is concerned...the empire shall never be forgotten!

But on a more serious note, as far as I can see, the races in the far east are there mostly for two reasons - because the promoters are willing to pay to raise the profile of a country or region and because it boosts the chance of local pay TV deals.

The true audience of F1 these days are:
1. A few TV executives with large pots of money to spend on entertainment
2. A bunch of executives working in the promotional departments of nations or multi-nationals

These beautiful people of F1 - beautiful in that they have lots of lovely money - don't actually care where they are doing their hospitality / promotional activity / networking as long as their audience (the ones they are trying to get more money out of) come along or are willing to pay to watch. For them, Afghanistan is as welcoming as Monaco is as welcoming as Spa - they will never have security concerns or issues with the government's treatment of its people - because they can pay not to.

The gamble is that F1 is selling an image and if the image starts to be eroded then the product starts to be eroded. FOC do not care what the fans want, they just care whether their customers still want to play in their garden and pay for it. As long as that continues, they will carry on ignoring history, ignoring the fans and following the money like a dog follows a scent hoping to find a female on heat at the other end...

Any plea to them saying "you can't ignore history" falls on deaf ears unless you can prove it's hurting the bottom line. Oh, and try appealing to the teams. No? They are addicted to the cash that FOM pays them, so if you try to squeeze Bernie, he'll just point at the teams and say "but they NEED the money, so we NEED to go to these places - if Germany can't pay, we go where they can. Think of the children...I mean teams!!!"

Hopefully someone will buy F1 off CVC and find a better way to serve the fans instead, but the business model is in place and pulling in hundreds of millions every year. It wil take a very, very brave person to change it - someone with the balls of Bernie Ecclestone. The changes he made were brave, but somewhere along the line it went too far."

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5. Posted by bmendon, 02/04/2015 2:37

"I wonder just how long Bernie will be around if the rumors are true that Red Bull is thinking about buying F1?"

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6. Posted by Max Noble, 02/04/2015 1:54

"There is a business saying that goes "What got you here will not keep you here." The point being as one gets more senior roles, or a company grows, then behaviours and processes have to mature accordingly.
Bernie built the F1 empire being a remarkable entrepreneur and deal maker. He worked on hard business principles, not emotion, history, tradition, or feeling sorry for who came second.

As pay per view shrinks free to air viewing numbers by the second, and Asian countries fail to ignite a passion and heroic love for F1, now killing off races in the traditional home countries is not a tactic that is going to keep F1 strong. No question Bernie got us here. I question if he can keep us here..."

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7. Posted by Dajobo, 02/04/2015 1:44

"Jackie Stewart is no noob and he makes sense. The question is will anybody listen?"

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Stewart: You have to respect your heritage

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