Earlier this week Bernie Ecclestone claimed that many circuits around the world wanted to host a Grand Prix in coming years, many more than he can accommodate in a single Formula 1 season.

With the introduction of the street circuits in Valencia and Singapore this year, the F1 calendar is packed with 19 races – the only other year F1 had 19 races was back in 2005 when the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola and the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis were on the calendar.

Increasing the number of races isn’t likely to please the FIA who are continually trying to restrict the amount of money and resources used by the big F1 teams, and just weeks after the provisional 2009 calendar was drawn up, the FIA announced plans to halve running costs of F1 teams by 2011. You can’t save running costs by adding races, and it’s perhaps another example of Formula One Management going against the wishes of governing body, the FIA.

An increased number of races every year is not financially or logistically viable, so the obvious answer is to introduce a more widespread alternating calendar similar to that in the World Rally Championship, and one which has been seen in F1 before.

We already have an alternating race in Germany with Hockeinheim and the Nurburgring sharing the German Grand Prix now that Valencia has taken over the title of the European Grand Prix. However, I feel the European Grand Prix should alternate between tracks.

In Europe alone, we have circuits like Jerez and Valencia in Spain, Imola in Italy, a possible race in Paris or London, while Spielberg in Austria could also host a race after redevelopment. In addition to these there are new circuits in Greece, Poland, Russia, Romania, Portugal and the Czech Republic which are all interested in joining F1. Grouping countries into regions could allow for more rotation, perhaps a Mediterranean Grand Prix, or an Eastern European Grand Prix.

There are several more traditional circuits in Europe that host F1 races that could lose out to state-of-the-art new tracks emerging in the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe, and I think it’s a no-brainer to try to fit everyone in so more people get the opportunity to see F1.

I’ve been to Silverstone, which is down the road from where I live, and experienced more than half of the current circuits on the F1 calendar, but not everyone has the opportunity to fly to the other side of the world because it’s far from cheap. The FIA might be trying to cut costs for the teams, but what about the fans?

From 2010 the Korean Grand Prix is expected to join the calendar until 2021 after the FIA allowed the maximum number of races to be increased to 20, making it the fifth race in Asia – great for the Asian market but not so great for Europeans who will have to spend more and more time and money to watch F1 live.

The real revolution in alternating circuits could begin from 2016 with just four circuits currently contracted in the form of Korea, Spain at Barcelona, Bahrain, and the British Grand Prix at Donington Park, although it could be even earlier with just nine races contracted after 2012.

In addition to alternating in Europe, we could also have an American Grand Prix, switching between Indianpolis (or one of the other many circuits across the US), Cancun in Mexico, San Luis in Argentina and Sao Paulo in Brazil. The Middle East Grand Prix would allow for Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar to alternate.

As well as the domination in Europe and Asia, Ecclestone wants to go back to Africa with Cape Town in South Africa, Cairo in Egypt and Marrakech in Morocco all interested.

Alternating races around the world makes the sport even more global and gives every circuit the chance to hold a race, bringing more money into the sport, but ultimately allowing even more motorsport fans the opportunity to experience F1. It would give the drivers more of a challenge by not going to the same circuits year after year and that might go some way to making the sport even more exciting.