Formula 1 Managing Dir, Commercial Operations Sean Bratches said that there have been "around 40 expressions of interest from potential grand prix venues" since Liberty Media took over the sport earlier this year, according to Adam Cooper of MOTORSPORT. Bratches said that F1 will choose new events "on the basis of what they can bring to the sport, with a focus on street races in major cities, rather than automatically taking the best commercial deals." He also wants to "split the season by region," with races in Europe, Asia and the Americas grouped together, to "aid with both logistics and marketing." He said, "Right now by the operation of the Concorde Agreement, the cap is 25. In the seven months I’ve been in this job I’ve probably had about 40 countries, cities, municipalities, principalities approach me about interest in hosting an F1 race, which is extremely encouraging." Bratches does not expect to see permanent Hermann Tilke-style tracks built in deserts, on swamps, or on farmland. He said, "In terms of the next tranche of where we’re going, I don’t think you’re going to have too many more purpose-built tracks built. We’re going to have an apportionment between city tracks, heritage tracks and purpose-built. The next objective is to put our shoulders behind more city races. For the reasons I stated, we think that’s a very attractive proposition from our perspective." Asked which current races "do not contribute enough to survive," Bratches said, "We love all our children! I think as we look at the apportionment of races by region, you’re going to see some fall out, and some added" (MOTORSPORT, 9/9).
