Ari Vatanen has vowed to safeguard Formula 1's traditional races if he is elected as the new FIA president.
The Finnish rallying legend, who is going head to head with former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt in the race to succeed Max Mosley, believes F1's move towards untested markets at the expense of its established heartland in Europe could be costly.
Relatively new races such as the Chinese, Bahrain and Turkish Grands Prix have struggled to attract crowds, to Vatanen's dismay.
"I am in favour of course of some new races – the Singapore night race or anything like that – because we need to renew ourselves," he told itv.com/f1's James Allen.
“But if we go to the places where the tribunes are empty and at the same time traditional fans of F1 don’t have a race, there’s something wrong."
The British GP's future could be under threat if Donington Park's revamp is not completed in time, the French race fell off the calendar this year, and last weekend at Spa reports emerged that the Belgian and German Grands Prix organisers might request that their events take place in alternate years to save costs.
Vatanen believes F1's traditional supporters could lose interest if their races are lost in favour of far-flung destinations where the sport has no fanbase.
“The fact that Silverstone may not have a race, Hockenheim may not have a race next year, France may not have a race... it means we are alienating the traditional customers and fans and it is not so easy to win them back,” he said.
The FIA presidential election takes place on 23 Oct
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