Just a day after the announcement of a new street circuit in Valencia from 2008, it was announced on Friday that Singapore will also host a street race from next year. The latest development will see Formula One make a move into night racing, with a five-year deal agreed.

The Singapore race, which will ultimately be similar to Monaco and Valencia in style, will take place in the downtown Marina Bay district, offering stunning backdrops as the drivers hurtle around at over 200mph, albeit in the dark with powerful floodlights to replicate daylight.

As yet, there has been no announcement as to whether the Singapore Grand Prix will replace one of the older, more traditional races or simply be an addition. But as anyone who has followed F1 over the years knows, F1 Management’s Bernie Ecclestone is keen to move away from its traditional heartland of Europe’s ageing circuits into new, more exotic places. Or, to put it bluntly, where there is new and greater money to be had than he can currently get. At the moment those markets are very definitely Asia and the Middle East.

Hypocrisy is something Ecclestone does well, and in recent years he and the FIA have been trying to reduce costs in running a team. This followed a succession of teams failing to do well, or ultimately having to sell up and get out of F1 because of the amounts involved.

It would be strange for them to be adding more races, with two new ones confirmed for 2008, without other circuits losing out, and it is now understood that Ecclestone wants to increase the calendar to 20 races per season. So unless I am very much mistaken, that’s an additional three races, including a fly-away race (although one would expect that it would be tied in with the Chinese or Japanese Grands Prix to minimise transportation costs). That’s an excellent way of keeping the spiralling costs down, Bernie.

Having already reduced the calendar for this season with the traditional European Grand Prix at Nürburgring now alternating with Hockenheim as the German Grand Prix, and the San Marino GP at Imola removed due to poor facilities, it does seem unlikely that Imola will reappear, at least in the short term.

These are not the only races under threat. It is almost inconceivable to remove the British or French GPs from the calendar, but of all the European races, along with possibly Austria, they could soon find themselves without a race.

The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francochamps is one of the best circuits we have in F1, but has been pulled from the calendar in recent years because of disputes with Ecclestone. If you don’t play the game by his rules, you lose.

A race in Singapore would be the fourth Asian race after Japan, Malaysia and China and would feature towards the end of the season, currently being considered for a September or October slot, although the 2008 calendar will not be confirmed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) until the end of the year.

The dangers of racing an F1 event in daylight can be cause for concern enough, but to be racing at night, even with a fully-lit street circuit, at speeds possibly above 200mph, will certainly cause concern to many. However, Singapore officials have maintained that a night race will only go ahead if the “safety requirements are met”, whatever they are.

I am cautiously excited for the introduction of night racing. It is a gimmick, if anything - something to try to introduce a bit of magic that has long been missing in F1; a new way of testing the drivers more than just another new sweeping circuit with state-of-the-art facilities.

The Singapore Grand Prix will be able to support a spectator base of 80,000 by means of grandstands, while you can expect the corporate hospitality you’d come to expect from F1. There is even talk of a purpose-built deluxe paddock complex. Hopefully, this will be better than the cramped and exceptionally dangerous facilities offered at Monaco.

Driver, team personnel and spectator safety should come before any hastily dreamt-up way of spicing up the calendar, and if this cannot be achieved then I am happy to be without a night race. Although it does have one thing going for it: I won’t have to wake up early on a Saturday and Sunday morning to watch the qualifying and a race in Asia.

How do you feel about Formula One racing at night? Will the Singapore Grand Prix concept work? Leave a comment below or write an article for Sportingo.