The future of the F1 race calendar --- Are we running out of tracks?!

2016 was the season with the most F1 races ever. The cars drove at 21 venues all around the world, which was nice for many F1 fans, because we had through that a lot of back to back race weekends and could see even more of the on track action. But in 2017 the lights are only going out on 20 occasions. Lately, there haven't been too many good news about some venues which hosted F1 races in 2016 and will host them in 2017 again.
First of all, there's the worst case scenario in the form of the German Grand Prix. After just one year back in the calendar, Hockenheim couldn't agree on a contract for 2017. Many people see that as an entire end of the German GP, but if you ask me, that isn't the case. The German GP itself has a contract until 2018, which means the race is most likely to come back next year. Furthermore, it wouldn't be the Hockenheimring to host the German F1 race next year, it would be the Nürburgring. But due to financial problems, there won't be a race too soon or maybe even never again, which is quite sad, because that track is a classic one and should be a part of F1 just like Monza, Silverstone or Monaco are. What I want to say with that is that Hockenheim never really wanted a race in 2017 because they wouldn't have one and it is not envidaged in their plans. When I was at the race this year, the fans were told to hopefully be seen again in 2018. They never talked about a 2017. And so there isn't one. The real problem is, that the problems don't end with that. Yes, there is the contract until 2018 and yes I'm sure that there will be a race in 2018, but what after that? Is Hockenheim or Germany itself even interested in renewing the contract? I pretty much start to doubt that, because the track itself made over the last few years it hosted F1 only financial losses, due to the lack of fans visting the track during a F1 weekend. And for me as a German that's sad to see. And I really understand what they mean with "lack of fans". They didn't even open all grandstands and had to put huge ad banners above them to cover them and don't show the not existing interest in F1 in a country, from which the reigning Constructors champions are. And at the grandstands that were opened were so many empty seats, especially during the Friday and Saturday sessions. So it's not surprising that the track can't gain anything out of the race, so why should they continue it? It's just a shame, but let's see what will happen in the future.
Moreover there are some tracks on the calendar which seem to really want to have a F1 race, but are a bit shaky because of the infrastructure. The venues I mean with that are the Canadian and the Brazilian GP, another two classic tracks. Luckily, those two could convince Bernie and the FOM to have a race next season. But now, they really need to sort out the encountered problems, or we are going to lose another two phenomenal circuits.
And finally, there are the countries which don't even want to have a race anymore, which are the Singapore and the Malaysian GP. The reason both venues are giving for their loss of interest in a F1 race is, just like it is in Germany, the loss of fans and by that the lose of money, which makes me even more nervous about the German GP to just ring down the curtain after 2018. If they are not going to renew their contract, next years Singapore GP is going to be the last one and with that we will lose the place, where the first F1 night race was hosted in 2008. Malaysia still has its contract until 2018, so we are going to be there at least for the next two seasons again.
On the plus side, we had also some good news in the last weeks. In 2008, we didn't only have the first Singapore GP, but also the last French GP to date. But that is going to change in 2018, when we will be back there, but not at Magny Cours, where it was hosted the last time and which was an absolute great track from my point of view, but sadly also had a huge infrastructure problem. In 2018, the French GP will be hosted in Le Castellet, at the Circuit Paul Ricard, which hosted the French GP already between 1971 and 1990. So as we can see, F1 is finally returning to a historical place, which is always agood thing.
But what if  THAT "worst case scenario" actually happens? First of all, let me describe how it would look in my eyes: It would mean, that the German, Canadian, Brazilian, Singapore and Malaysian GP would leave F1 and only the French GP rejoin until the end of 2018. So, we would make minus of 4 tracks and only have 16 races left in the F1 calendar. That's the least amount of races since 2003. There wouldn't be a need of back to back weekends and that means by far more boring Sundays for us fans, But let's stay realistic, that is really a worst case scenario, because the Canadian and Brazilian GP are most likely to stay, so we shouldn't think too much about that (or should we?)
But what I really want to think of, is the possible return of some classic F1 tracks, and maybe also some newcomers to the sport, just in case all of the named tracks are actually going to drop off. Honestly spoken, I never was the biggest fan of the Malaysian GP and I wouldn't really mind to stop racing there, if there would be a fitting replacement. The track I'd really love to see back on the calendar is Imola!
Yes, I know we already have an Italian race on the calendar with Monza and I really hope it's never going to be dropped, because it is a true classic and we need that track. But why shouldn't we have two races in a country, if the fans, the country and the people who are responsible for the track  really want it? Just call it the San Marinio GP just like it was before, and everyone would be fine with it. MotoGP is still doing that excessively. We are having 4 races in Spain (The, surprise, Spanish GP, Catalunya GP, Aragon GP and Valencia GP) and also 2 races in Italy, also in form of a San Marino GP. The Reason for that are the huge fan bases because the most competitive drivers are coming from these countries. If F1 would adapt that concept, we would need to have at least 3 races in Germany but instead we are getting nothing for the next season. The Italian fans in F1 are very passionate, and I'm sure a race in Imola would be a sellout.
As already mentioned, Germany is not getting one race next season, although we are having at this point 3 confirmed drivers (but surely 4 once Wehrlein gets a contract somewhere) we Germans won't have the chance to see them live at home. And my question is, why not look out for other tracks in Germany instead of the Nürburgring and Hockenheim? Don't get me wrong, I really do love both tracks and think they should be part of the calendar too, but they are having their financial problems and seem to have lost interest in F1. Two tracks that came into my mind are the Sachsenring and The EuroSpeedway Lausitz.
First of all, let's talk about the more unrealistic one: The Sachsenring. It's pro's would be that it attracts almost the most amount of fans in the whole MotoGP season, which would mean that it seems possible, that also a lot of motorsport fans would attend a F1 race there. So, from the financial point of view, it should be pretty save. And I'll be honest: I'm living really close to that track, I could drive home after every day visiting it, so maybe I'm a bit too much dreaming here, because we also need to look at the con's: It's not build for F1 cars. It's quite narrow and short, which means that it would need a whole expansion to host an F1 race that is most unlikely to happen, again because of the finances. I mean where should that money come from?
But well, we still have the Lausitzring. It's a huge complex, that can hold a lot of fans, there are different layouts which could be used and the interest of fans should be there too. Furthermore, also the traffic connection shouldn't be too bad, so why not?
Alright to finish this off, I don't really think that we are going to run out of tracks in F1. I hold the view there are many countries interested in having a race, and the ones who really want one are going to get it. Maybe not according to the wishes I gave you here, but oh well at least Imola shouldn't be completely unrealistic. Anyways, thanks for reading again! Which track would you like to see in the F1 calendar? Write me your wishes into the comments, I'm really interested in those!

Georg