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.
Why F1's under-fire rookie is already causing surprises Sergey Sirotkin's deal to drive for Williams, at the expense of Robert Kubica, was met with a great deal of animosity, and means he'll be one of the most scrutinised drivers in F1 this season. The early signs are that he's doing everything right F1
How F1 should start and end its season The Winter Olympics kicked off last week with typical fanfare and public awe. Formula 1 could do with a piece of that action to build excitement ahead of a new season F1
Can Bottas convince Mercedes to keep him? Valtteri Bottas has another year at Mercedes, but the likes of Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo will have an eye on his seat for 2019. Will Bottas respond to that threat with the heroics that marked his early months at Mercedes, or with another slump? F1
What Raikkonen must do to shrug off laggard tag Ferrari has hinted 2018 is Kimi Raikkonen's final, final chance. The statistics suggest the pace is still somewhere within him - but can he turn around the trend of his recent seasons? F1
The wild Austrian GP that launched a future champion Alan Jones's maiden grand prix victory was also the Shadow squad's sole win. Neither expected that result from a 14th-place starting position, but it would spur the Australian on his path to become a future Formula 1 world champion F1
Why doing an Alonso won't work for Dovizioso in MotoGP Talks between Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati for 2021 have stalled again, with a sabbatical a considered option now for the Italian. Fernando Alonso proved there is a route back from his to F1, but Dovizioso can't expect the same in MotoGP... MotoGP
What's new in Formula E ahead of its return? Formula E's coronavirus-forced hiatus is almost at an end as racing is set to resume in August in Berlin. But the series hasn't had a quiet break, with controversy, driver changes and rule changes all dominating headlines FE
Red Bull edges closer to Mercedes as rain threat clouds order One week after the 2020 season started at the Red Bull Ring, the cars are running there again thanks to Formula 1's pandemic-shifted calendar. But this time around practice signs are looking better for the home team, with rain chaos also predicted F1
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