McLaren CEO Zak Brown says Formula 1 is bigger than "any one Grand Prix" as the Monaco and Belgium races face an uncertain future.

The battle for spots on the calendar is the fiercest it has ever been with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali recently stating a 30-race schedule could easily be created such is the interest around the world.

However, under the current Concorde Agreement, 24 or 25 events is the maximum permitted and as it stands, that number will be reached next year.

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In addition to the current 22 races, a third American race in Las Vegas was recently announced for next November, while the Chinese & Qatar GPs will also return, with the latter expected to fill the vacant September slot left by the Russian GP's cancellation later this year.

South Africa is also pushing for a return next year at Kyalami, the venue of the last race in the country and on the African continent in 1993, while a second race in China is also rumoured to be in the works.

All this means some of the current races will have to be dropped. The French GP at Paul Ricard is top of the list for the chop, while the Monaco, Belgium and Mexico City GPs also have contracts set to expire.

And while axing two events that are synonymous with F1 history would be very unpopular, Domenicali is far from ruling it out.

“There are some promoters who have expiring agreements, and probably some of the current Grands Prix will no longer be part of the calendar," he confirmed in a conference call.

"Others will remain but in a different form, such as rotating between different tracks.

“Soon the choices we are making will be announced, and you can expect some new Grands Prix. However, it is still not easy to plan everything in advance.

“If we take for example China, we will have to try to understand what will be the situation regarding the Covid issue in the future, as we did last year in view of 2022.

“We know we have to balance the arrival of new races with historic Grands Prix, and tracks that must continue to be part of our calendar.

“But the arrival of offers from new promoters has an advantage for the F1 platform, and that is to force the organisers of traditional Grands Prix to raise their level of quality, in terms of what they offer the public, infrastructure and management of the event.

“It’s not enough to have a pedigree anymore. You also have to demonstrate that you are keeping up.”

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Imagining F1 without Monaco almost seems unthinkable given it had been part of every championship since 1954 until it was cancelled due to Covid in 2020.

But while it has long been called the 'Jewel in the Crown', that status is now being firmly called into question.

“Monaco always stood for the most glamorous part of Formula 1, but I think Miami, Singapore, Las Vegas are starting to add some pretty glamorous markets," McLaren chief Brown told Reuters.

“I think Monaco needs to come up to the same commercial terms as other Grands Prix and also maybe needs to work with ways they can adapt their track because as our cars have become bigger, the racing has become more difficult.

“You need to take history into consideration, but then I think you need to take into consideration how is the show it puts on.

“I’d much rather have Monaco than not," he acknowledged, "but just like the sport is bigger than any one driver or team, I think it’s bigger than any one Grand Prix."

The erosion of Monaco's position as a once untouchable race is already shown by the fact it has had to pay a hosting fee for the first time in 2022, while its unique Thurs-Sat-Sun schedule has also been changed to the same as the other events on the calendar.

And this shift away from the past isn't confined to Monte Carlo or Spa-Francorchamps either. Hockenheim and Nurburgring have already fallen away and Monza, Silverstone and Interlagos are all under constant pressure to evolve.

Though they are managing to do that for now, somehow you feel it's a matter of 'when' not 'if' the circuits that have built F1 over the past 70+ years will no longer be around.