Ecclestone Plots Further Expansion
Formula One’s global expansion looks set to continue, with Bernie Ecclestone, the president and CEO of Formula One Management, predicting a return to South Africa for the sport even ahead of its debut race in Russia.
A South African Grand Prix would be the first since 1993, when Alain Prost secured victory at Kyalami. It would mark another step in the sport’s spread around the globe, with venues such as China, Abu Dhabi, India and Singapore either returning to the calendar or appearing for the first time in recent years.
A Grand Prix in Sochi is also expected from 2014, the year that the Russian city hosts the Olympic Winter Games, while Bahrain is also expected to return to the schedule following the cancellation of the race this year.
The effect the addition of more races to an already crowded calendar will have on the number staged in the sport’s traditional European heartland remains to be seen.
The USA, though, is proving slightly more challenging for Ecclestone and his team, despite races planned for both Texas and New Jersey. ‘Formula One will not be big in America. But Formula One will be in Russia for 2014, and in South Africa by 2013 even,’ Ecclestone told Al Jazeera English.
He added: ‘The US has been slow to get F1 because they want to see a profit before they start.’
