Austria could remain on race calendar

Formula One ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone claimed today that this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix might not be the last after all as he hinted at an expansion of the calendar to 20 races.

The sport was supposedly saying farewell to the A1-Ring at Spielberg on Sunday with organisers having been told months ago that it would not be on the calendar in 2004 because of the row over a European-wide ban on tobacco sponsorship.

New venues in Bahrain and China will join next season with Turkey set to stage its first grand prix in 2005, putting pressure on existing European venues.

But Ecclestone said today: “We don’t know at the moment if it’s going to be the last one. This may not be the last. We’ll see. We didn’t leave out of choice.

“Let’s see what happens with our friend Red Bull, see how he makes what he does here and we’ll see. Maybe we are going to come back.”

Dietrich Mateschitz, owner of the Red Bull energy drink, plans to spend around £200million on turning F1’s most picturesque track into a motorsport academy.

Ecclestone also warned teams that they may have to accept an increase of the calendar to 20 races with countries like Dubai, Russia, Egypt and the Lebanon expressing an interest in joining the circus.

“Maybe yes, maybe they’ll have to,” said Ecclestone, though some teams in the past have opposed increasing the number of races.

The championship usually numbers 17 races but it is 16 this year because Belgium was booted off in a separate tobacco dispute.