These days, if a country's wallet is big enough, it can buy a place on the Formula 1 calendar. Russia came on board last year and Azerbaijan is pencilled in for a debut in 2016.
Developing a location into an F1 venue that fans, teams and drivers love is much tougher - just ask the promoters who attempted races in Valencia or South Korea.
So perhaps they could have learned a thing or two from Monaco, one of F1's oldest and most popular venues.