F1 calendar set for shake-up (Updated)

Formula 1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone wants to take the sport to new parts of the world as well as expand the length of the calendar - in order to allow more three-week breaks such as the one between the German and Hungarian races this year.

The number of Grands Prix per year has fluctuated between 16 and 17 over the last decade, but Ecclestone is thought to want to strip one race from next year's calendar. The most likely event for the chop is the San Marino GP, but the British round is understood to still be in jeopardy after the traffic problems surrounding this year's event.

In order for Ecclestone to have Grands Prix in additional countries, further existing races will have to go. Both Germany and Italy currently host two races each per season, a number that will likely be reduced to just one, which would mean the end of the European GP at the Nurburgring.

Top of the list to host new races are Bahrain and a new Russian circuit on the outskirts of Moscow, which Ecclestone has been heavily involved in with Arrows team boss Tom Walkinshaw.

Ecclestone told French sports paper L'Equipe: "In order to integrate new races into the calendar - beginning with the Russian Grand Prix in Moscow, the first edition of which should be at the end of Spring 2003, and then a race in the Middle East - we must necessarily eliminate European dates.

"We hope to limit the season to 16 races. I do not want to get rid of European races for the pleasure of getting rid of them but we have to. The only thing that is certain is that two or three European races will be shed," he added.

With an extended calendar, the season would not come to an end until the middle of November, which could lead to the championship finale being moved from its current venue, Japan's Suzuka circuit, to sunnier climes such as Malaysia or Brazil.