Turkey at risk as one venue will be dropped for the next season

Formula One will have 20 races next year and not 21 as listed last week, according to FIA president Jean Todt, without naming which one gets the axe.

Formula One will have 20 races next year and not the record 21 listed on a calendar published last week, according to Jean Todt, the president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

The Frenchman, straying into an area normally controlled by the sport's commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone, could not say which race might be axed, although Turkey already has an asterisk against it.

"Absolutely not," Todt told Spain's Diario Sport in an interview carried out at the MotoGP race in Barcelona at the weekend when asked whether there would be 21 races.

"There are 21 dates, but the championship will be with 20 grands prix.

"We don't know which one will go, but the world championship will be 20 races," he said.

The Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul on May 6 was listed as subject to confirmation after being called into question when local organisers said it faced the axe because of a disagreement over payments to Ecclestone.

The race has been poorly attended in recent years but the circuit is popular with drivers.

Next year's calendar also sees the United States making a return to the championship with a new circuit in Austin, Texas, scheduled for June 17.

Spain is the only country with two races, in Barcelona and Valencia.

Meanwhile, Sergio Perez is confident of being given the green light to compete in this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

Perez ploughed into the harbour chicane in qualifying for the race in Monaco less than two weeks ago which resulted in him spending two nights in hospital after suffering concussion and a sprained thigh.

The rookie Mexican will now have to undergo health checks before being allowed to get back into the cockpit of his Sauber for first practice on Friday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Speaking on the news programme Mexico Today, Perez said: "It was quite a big shunt, but it is part of the game and luckily nothing big happened.

"I lost consciousness in the accident, but I am looking forward to the next race, and I'm more motivated than ever."

* Agencies