Threatened
Page back through Formula One's history books, and the calendar for the sport's inaugural season (1950) lists Grands Prix in Britain, Monaco, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy, plus a race at Indianapolis. Fast forward a year, and Germany and Spain join the fray.
These, then, can be said to be the sport's 'Grandee Prix', with all subsequent events, whether held in Brazil or Bahrain, considered to be no more than gatecrashers at an exclusive party.
Various events, not least a now-public letter addressed by the FIA's beleaguered president Max Mosley to all the heads of all clubs affiliated to motoring's governing body, have occurred over the past week or so which have brought the fates and futures of the remaining seven classic Grands Prix - in alphabetical order, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Monaco and Spain - into sharp focus.