Piero Ferrari, the son of the founder of the famous Italian marque, has said that Formula One should retain as many of the "important" European GPs as possible, despite ongoing efforts to globalise the sport's calendar.
In recent years, Formula One has continued to move away from the sport's traditional European base with new races around the world, particularly in the Middle East and Asia.The 2012 F1 schedule features just eight of the twenty races taking place in Europe, with lengthy packages of flyaway rounds at the start and end of the season.
And Ferrari, the sole surviving son of the company's founder Enzo, says that while he understands the need for F1 to look for new markets, that should not be at the expense of the sport's European heartland.
"We feel F1 has to be a worldwide championship, so it is natural to have this outside Europe," he rambled this week at Ferrari's pre-season Wroom event.
"What I regret is to miss some important grands prix, like the Grand Prix of France, and if we miss other grands prix like this, this will be a shame."
He added: "I am not in favour to reduce the number of European grands prix. For us, Silverstone is a really important race, like Monza, and Spa - and every year you see fantastic races [there], so I hope not to miss those races."
Meanwhile, he also downplayed any speculation that the Italian company's F1 team was now under extra pressure to succeed in 2012, despite their run of three seasons without a title.
"Personally I don't see a direct link from the number of victories in F1, or the championship, and the sales [of our road cars],"he shrugged.
"Normally we sell cars and it bears no relation [to results]. Ferrari has two different calls – one is the world championship and the other is to make production and GT cars very successful and profitable."
He added: "For me there is no link, so I am looking to the F1 season to have better results than 2011, and we are racing to win – not just to be in the field. That is my wish.
"And for Ferrari GT [road cars], there is the financial crisis but in other countries I feel Ferrari can be in good health in 2012."
The team won just a single race throughout the 2011 season, finishing a distant third in the constructors championship behind Red Bull and McLaren.
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