F1 to expand to Caribbean?

Even as doubts are cast over the future of the Korean Grand Prix, and the return of France to the F1 schedule appears to hinge on the outcome of impending national elections, other candidates to fill the void continue to emerge.

Indeed, it is amid rumours that the sport could expand beyond the 'gentleman's agreement' limiting the schedule to 20 races that the unlikely surroundings of the Dominican Republic has emerged as a contender to host possibly the most unexpected F1 race yet.

However, according to respected F1 journalist Joe Saward, that is a distinct possibility as presidential candidate Danilo Medina has vowed to use government money to pay the hefty race fees if private finance can be found to construct an F1-standard circuit in the Caribbean country.

The report suggests that the move could be a means of boosting tourist traffic to the Dominican Republic, the second biggest nation in the Caribbean after Cuba, which has suffered from the political uncertainty afflicting neighbouring Haiti, which occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, which both countries share. The Dominican Republic has become the Caribbean's largest tourist destination, with the opportunity for year-round golf providing a major selling point, although its major sporting interest is baseball, which it shares with several other Caribbean nations.

Although F1 has yet to grace the Caribbean for anything more than Jaime Alguersuari's demonstration run on the beach at Punta Cana in 2010., the early days of F3000 took the series to Curacao, which lies to the far south of the Dominican Republic, off the northern coast of Venzuela. The non-championship event, run on the streets of Willemstad, was won by John Nielsen's works Ralt.