Categories: 2016 SeasonF1 News, Reports and Race Results

Alonso in favour of expanded F1 championship

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Fernando Alonso does not mind the calendar expanding to 21 races because it takes F1 to new audiences.

The FIA approved a record 21-race calendar for 2016 which will see the addition of the Grand Prix of Europe in Azerbaijan as well as the return of the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. While Alonso enjoys racing on traditional circuits - many of which have dropped off the calendar in recent years - he says the inclusion of new venues is a positive to expand the sport's global appeal.

"At the end of the day it doesn’t change anything for us," Alonso said. "Going to some of the circuits that we raced on for all our careers, like Imola, Magny Cours, Istanbul – they are nice tracks and there is nice tradition there so you enjoy racing at those circuits.

"When you go to new countries, you open the sport up to new people and to new generations so it’s also quite a good feeling.

"We are travelling a little bit more. When I started some years ago, there were 16 races; now ... they have planned 21 and most of them out of Europe, so it’s definitely more demanding in terms of travelling and preparing the championship but as I said, it’s the direction that the sport chooses and there is the advantage of opening up Formula One to new countries and this is also good news, I think."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.