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F1 in 2016: Why it is a big year for…F1 in Europe and its iconic venues

A record 21 races, but will F1's most famous tracks survive long term?

For a sport that has plenty of pressing concerns on and off track heading into 2016, the expansion of the calendar to a record 21 races certainly could act as a counter-balance to F1's doom-mongers.

After all, amid plenty of long-running concerns among fans that some of the sport's tradition has been discarded over the last decade, the two calendar additions from 2015 are in Europe - the return of Germany and, after a slightly longer absence, the European GP itself at the new destination of…Azerbaijan.

Or, then again…

In fairness, it isn't completely beyond the realms of geographical logic to make a case for Azerbaijan being in Europe as the country sits on what could be viewed as the border of eastern Europe and western Asia.

However, the former Soviet state certainly lies a good few thousand kilometres away from what is considered F1's European 'heartland'. Outpost is probably a more apt description.

A stay of execution?
Germany is rather more familiar territory, but there has been little evidence yet to suggest that the return of one of F1's most longstanding races after a year's exile means the event is assured for the long-term.

The Nurburgring's failure to fulfill their half of the race-share agreement with Hockenheim last year means the future of that deal beyond 2016 remains in doubt - and Bernie Ecclestone has certainly given scant assurance the historic track in the Eiffel mountains will be back anytime soon.  

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"I don't believe that this will happen," Ecclestone told Motorsport-Magazin when asked about the 2017 calendar in December. "We can say for sure, that there will be no race." 

As the demise of the French GP at the end of the last decade demonstrated, F1's impresario has no qualms deposing of a so-called 'untouchable' grands prix - although it would be an even greater shock if another European race with an uncertain future, the Italian GP at Monza, was dumped after 2016.

The high-speed straights of Monza are probably just about as synonymous with F1 as tyres and engines, the Royal Park on the outskirts of Milan having been present on every F1 calendar to date bar 1980.

The venue's F1 contract expires after this September's race, but recent developments at least appear to be pointing to a more positive conclusion with a seven-year extension mooted early in the New Year. But, until an extension is signed, doubts will continue to linger.

Financial pressures 
Silverstone, which also has lineage to the very first year of the World Championship in 1950, has run the gauntlet itself plenty of times over the years and just about survived.

In fact, the British GP venue probably has the longest agreement of any race, having signed a 17-year deal to 2027 seven years ago. But the terms of that deal, which include a five per cent yearly escalator, mean the Northamptonshire circuit cannot let up in their efforts to maximise their revenue streams, despite the record 140,000 crowd that turned up to see Lewis Hamilton win last year.

Ecclestone has since revealed that Silverstone were paying for their 2015 race in arrears, although circuit boss Patrick Allen insisted to Autosport in October they have the situation in hand and "we will be able to see out the contract". Last year's race is also thought to have turned a profit.

The lack of government backing has always been a political hot potato as far as the British GP is concerned and, to a greater or lesser extent, funding is the issue that dominates the agenda for races throughout Europe.

If you include Russia and Azerbaijan, then just under half of 2016's grands prix are in Europe - 10 of 21 - which compares to 10 of 18 exactly a decade ago.

What will that split look like another 10 years from now? Developments in 2016 are likely to provide an telling indicator. 

The first race of the 2016 F1 season, the Australian GP, is exclusively live on Sky F1. The race in Melbourne starts at 5am on Sunday March 20.

Every race live in 2016
Every race live in 2016

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