10/05/2017
NEWS STORY
With a 21-date calendar scheduled for 2018, Chase Carey says there are even more races in the pipeline for 2019 and beyond, but what about the teams.
Next season, while we lose Malaysia, courtesy of deals concluded by former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, France and Germany return to the F1 fold, meaning that as in 2016 there will be 21 race on the calendar.
Keen to see Super Bowl style events that see the Grand Prix become the highlight of week-long happenings as the F1 circus hits town, Ecclestone's successor Chase Carey has revealed that he could "fill a page with the number of locations that have asked to meet and discuss the opportunity to host an F1 race".
Ignoring the fact that it is quality not quantity that matters, perhaps Mr Carey should not get too excited just yet.
"Our first focus is making our 21 races (in 2018) as strong as they can be," he tells Motorsport.com. "We've talked about them being bigger events and maximising things like hospitality, clearly the high-end customer is important at these live events, and we are focussed on that.
"We have not really targeted a number of races," he admits. "We know there's an opportunity to add them, but we want to engage more with teams before we get into the specifics."
Ah, the teams.
In its determination to improve the show, FOM has already admitted that it is looking to level the playing field in terms of spending and while this may not mean a budget cap per se, another area that is being looked at is how the prize pot is divided.
Though the current agreement remains in place until 2020, there has already been talk of Ferrari losing its 'historic bonus', while similar payments to other teams are said to be in jeopardy.
Following the initial bristling things have died down, though the big teams have made clear their concerns, Christian Horner summing up the situation when he said he is happy to see the likes of Force India receive more money as long as it doesn't comes out of Red Bull's pocket.
Earlier this week it was claimed that despite finishing third in 2016, at $180m (£140m) Ferrari walked away with the most prize money, courtesy of that historic bonus, thought to be worth $68m (£52.5m) last year.
World champions Mercedes is understood to have collected $171m (£132m) and Red Bull $161m (£124m) - even poor old McLaren pocketed $97m (£75m).
Taking away those bonuses and sharing out the (2016) prize pot of $940m between the existing ten teams would see Ferrari's share fall by around 50%, with Mercedes and Red Bull similarly 'hit'.
Though it is a couple of years away there is a storm heading in, and before FOM starts adding new races to the calendar, which will need the agreement of the teams, it will need to find a way to keep them all happy and on board.
Though the likes of Sauber, Haas and Force India will be salivating at the thought of that level playing field, the big guns will defend their hard-won incomes rigorously and will hold FOM over any available barrel.
Ahead of the forthcoming General Election in the UK, all manner of promises are being made, and as ever there is no light shed on where the money to fulfil these promises will come from.
The same can be said of F1. Before further increasing the calendar, FOM must ensure it has the teams on board to participate and that is a battle equal to anything ever likely to be seen on track.