F1 to expand to 22 races

With the addition of Turkey in 2005 the F1 schedule has reached 19 races per year and it appears there will be more. Gerhard Gribkowsky, Chairman of the Board of F1 holding company SLEC has said that there are a lot of positive aspects to what has been achieved in F1 recently. The comments come with the banks clearly looking eventually to sell their shares in the sport. "The moves into China and Bahrain were without doubt right," he added. “It would be desirable to also go to Russia (20) and India (21). With only two races in North America we are under-represented in comparison with the market (Mexico 22). Our aim is to guarantee the sport's long-term stability. At some point the time may come when we say, ‘okay, we are leaving again.'" When asked what time frame he believed the banks would try and get out of F1, he said: “From today's point of view, in three to five years. Not earlier." [Editor's Note: Meanwhile the IRL is at 18 races per year with plans of expanding, NASCAR is at 38 races, but Champ Car will remain at just 16 races per year according to Kevin Kalkhoven.]