Team bosses have come out in support of Ron Dennis' vision for a 20-race
Formula 1 calendar with an increased focus on the Middle East but they are adamant that figure must be an absolute limit.
Speaking to delegates during the Motor Sport Business Forum in Bahrain ahead of Sunday's grand prix in the desert kingdom the first time the forum has taken place away from its traditional Monaco home the McLaren-Mercedes team principal called for the sport to move in an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, direction in the years to come. He was also enthusiastic about F1's recent expansion into the Middle East, with the inaugural race in Sakhir back in 2004 and Abu Dhabi set to follow suit next year.
I welcome this expansion, the 60-year-old underlined, and heartily commend
Bernie Ecclestone for spearheading it, but I have two provisos. Firstly, that the season never expands to more than 20 grands prix, which I regard as a natural logistical limit; secondly, that we preserve a close-season over the winter.
The close-season is essential not only for logistical reasons, but also in order to stir up a sense of anticipation in the hearts and minds of F1 fans. My firm belief is that the season should expand to not more than 20 grands prix.
F1 must remain the pinnacle of motorsport, from an engineering point-of-view as well as from every other point-of-view. The day when F1 stakeholders and I include F1 fans in that categorisation begin to doubt F1's status as the pinnacle of motorsport, we are lost.
We need to make F1 less expensive, too, and we need to do that very carefully. In order for F1 to continue to thrive in the way it has thrived over the past half century, we must foster an environment wherein entrepreneurship can continue to flourish freely. Entrepreneurship remains essential to the future development of
F1.
