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May 23rd
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Bernie names planned new F1 events

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F1 oligarch Bernie Ecclestone has named Mexico and South Africa as his next two favoured 'new' events on the Formula One calendar, with Ecclestone hopeful of sorting both races out after the introduction of the Russian GP in 2014.

The Formula One calendar is set to welcome Russia onto the calendar from the 2014 season, at an all-new racetrack in Sochi.

The Russian race will be the latest addition to the F1 calendar, after the debuts of Korea, India and the returning United States GP in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively.

And Ecclestone says that he would aim to bring two more former F1 races back to the calendar, once the Russian race was sorted out.

"After Russia I would like to go to South Africa and Mexico. Both countries are trying to do something<" he grinned to the Independent newspaper in an interview on Monday.

South Africa are reportedly looking into running a street race around Cape Town, while Mexican billionare Carlos Slim revealed plans for a new Mexican race last month.

According to reports, either the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit or a street track in Guadalajara were being considered to host the race.

Meanwhile, in an odd twist, Ecclestone even suggested that financially-challenged European country Greece could also be a venue for F1 in the future.

"Greece are also trying to do a Formula One race," he said, possibly as a joke, "The Germans will lend them some money."

Ecclestone also confirmed that the FOM coffers were not going to be adversely affected by the cancellation of this year's Bahrain GP, saying that the organisers had paid for the race.

"I don't think turnover will be down this year," he shrugged, "I think it will be flat because we were paid for Bahrain.

"I said we will give them the money back and they said don't bother. I think the turnover and profit will be more or less the same as 2010."

And he remained confident in the plans for Bahrain's return in 2011.

"I spoke to the Bahrainis yesterday and they said everything is going to be fine," he said confidently, "I hope they are right for their sake, not ours."

The Bahrain GP was eventually cancelled in the wake of the wave of political protests that overwhelmed the country earlier this year.

Provisionally, the race has returned to the schedule for 2012, as the fourth round of the championship on April 22nd.