South Africa will host a Formula One Grand Prix event in 2013 and the future Olympic host town of Sochi in Russia will join the list of F1 destinations in 2014.
In an interview with David Frost scheduled to air on Al Jazeera English on 16th December 2011, Bernie Ecclestone also confirmed that the touring motorsport event would also visit Bahrain in 2012, “We’re happy to go there if we are invited, we’ll be delighted”.
The city least likely to see the world’s most popular race series in the flesh, however, is the New York, USA. The President and CEO of F1 said that negotiations on an event in New York had been faltering: “Formula One will not be big in America. The US has been slow to get F1 because they want to see a profit before they start.”
However, with an inaugural event in Austin, Texas, USA, scheduled to take place in November 2012 – the penultimate event in the 2012 calendar – it remains to be seen if the US audience will convert from traditional motorsports, if only for one or two events on home soil. A race in New Jersey, USA, has a ten year deal, running from the 2013 season.
Bernie Ecclestone was talking to David Frost of Al Jazeera English in an interview which shall air on 16th December 2011, at 20:00 GMT.