The 1 F2011 calendar could be the longest ever

In 2011 we have 20 races scheduled. Would we reach 21 in 2012? The calendar seems to expand by the minute based on what Bernie Ecclestone says, just like the black spot that is enveloping the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. The 2010 championship has yet to end when we meet the next one already in the "Guinness World Record": for the first time in F1 there will be 20 official races!

But which appointment will be on the calendar? The Indian GP.

The 19 grand prix of this crazy year already seem like an enormity and the hopes of seeing them diminish are becoming increasingly faint. The game is devious and cynical at the same time: the teams would like fewer appointments to reduce costs but they don't want to give up certain states, which are proving to be exceptional springboards for their economy... it's a bit like a mouse that he eats his tail.

As for Turkey and China, they have been on the verge of abandoning their position several times, observing the number of spectators decreasing year after year, but in the end they will complete their contract with Ecclestone, the same Ecclestone who is among the The other owner of the Istanbul Park circuit and who has repeatedly assured that the Turkish race will not be excluded from the championship.

A great supporter for the Chinese race is Mercedes, supplier of three different teams, whose economy is literally breaking through in the Asian market and especially in China.

And if you thought that the historic European circuits were safe from this kind of problem, you were wrong! Hockenheim and Silverstone were the two classics with uncertain futures who finally settled down with long-term contracts.

However, the guarantees of the tracks do not serve to relax the teams who are too worried about excessive travel costs due to a calendar that has anything but something rational.

Why are the Bahrain and Abu Dhabi events at opposite ends of the calendar when they could actually be close together? The same goes for Malaysia and Singapore and among other things it would be appropriate to move the Chinese race to the surroundings of the Japanese and Korean GPs.

And remembering the now famous quote from the Disney character Buz from "Toy Story" << Towards infinity and beyond >> this seems to be what Ecclestone himself actually thinks and believes, determining the entry into the calendar of a further event in 2012 in the United States (probably in Texas) and the alternatives of Russia and Rome have not yet collapsed.

The prospect of a longer calendar in terms of time is good news for fans of the sport, but let's not forget that it also represents an advantage for the manufacturing teams who can thus export and represent their product locally.

But in an economically difficult moment like this, to what extent will the teams be able to face these costs? And we're not talking about teams like Ferrari/McLaren/Mercedes or Renault, which will suffer from this anyway, but I'm referring to the various Saubers, Lotuses or HRTs.

Eleonora Ottonello