Ecclestone wants more US races, less in Europe

Just as Ross Brawn has called for Formula 1's historic races in Europe to be protected, F1 ringleader, Bernie Ecclestone, has called for less races in Europe and more in America.

Ecclestone, who turned 81 on Friday, recently secured a New Jersey GP which will debut in 2013, just a year after the Austin GP in Texas - giving the United States of America two races.

Ecclestone is of the opinion that the United States should have four races, whilst Europe should drop four, giving the continent the same number of events.

"We used to have three or four races in America, so we need two more," he told Auto Motor und Sport. "It's a big country. We have nine races in Europe [eight with the loss of Turkey] and America is about the same size.

"So maybe we should have four in Europe and four in America," he concluded.

Whilst the two continents, Europe and the United States of America have similar landmass (about 10 million km2), their populations differ vastly. The former continent has upwards of 730m whilst the latter has 312m.

Races in 2012:
Europe: 8 - Spain, Monaco, Europe, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Italy
Asia: 8 - Malaysia, China, Bahrain, Singapore, Japan, Korea, India, Abu Dhabi
North America: 2 - Canada and Texas
Oceania: 1 - Australia
South America: 1 - Brazil

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