21-race calendar for 2018 finalised

F1 chief executive Chase Carey has confirmed there will be 21 races on the 2018 calendar, with other interested parties now forced to play the waiting game.

France and Germany are both making their returns to the schedule, but the Malaysian Grand Prix will be no more at the end of the current season.

There had been rumours of a second race in the USA also joining the list next year. However, those plans are on hold for now.

“There will be 21 next year,” Carey told Auto Motor und Sport.

“But the list of places that are interested fills a page. We have five or six cities in the United States that are interested.

“But the priority is to make the 21 races that we do have better.”

Carey also wants to see more closer relationships between the owners and the circuits, but reiterated there would be no compromise with the likes of Silverstone to bring down their running costs.

“It’s not enough to sign a contract and then say ‘See you next year’. There must be more coming from our side,” he added.

“So we need to sit down with the organisers who have problems. But we have no plans to renegotiate the current agreements.

“Our product has a certain value and it’s not as if we do not have alternatives.”