Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone laid out his vision of the future in typically blunt terms five years ago.

"In the next 10 years, Europe is going to become a third-world economy," he declared. "There's no way Europe will be able to compete with China, Korea and India."

Since he made that 2004 prediction, in the same year that lavish no-expense-spared circuits in Bahrain and China made their debuts on the championship calendar, Formula One's eastward trend has only accelerated.

If Turkey is considered an Asian race, with its circuit geographically on that continent, then the season starting in Australia next week marks the first time that Asia and the Middle East have had as many races as the sport's European heartland.

Abu Dhabi, the Middle East's second grand prix and season-ender, is the newcomer with its own harbourside street circuit.

All the signs are that the emphasis will be skewed even further away from Europe in future, with debuts scheduled for South Korea in 2010 and India in 2011 while efforts continue to reinstate a North American round.

Monaco has long been the social event of the season but Singapore may already outshine the Mediterranean millionaires' playground in the glamour stakes after last year's first night-time street race.

Ecclestone hailed it as the new jewel in the Formula One crown while BMW-Sauber boss Mario Theissen, whose team are backed by the Malaysian state-owned oil and gas company Petronas, was gushing in his praise.

"The Singapore GP is my new highlight of the season," he said in January. "The whole feel of the occasion is without equal."

European problems

For every sunrise in the east there is a setting in the west and some long-standing European venues are in danger of vanishing.

France has lost its slot until at least 2011 and there is a question mark hanging over the British Grand Prix with Silverstone, home to the first championship race in 1950, handing over to Donington Park next year.

Should Donington fail to make the necessary circuit improvements in time, Ecclestone has said Britain will be left out in the cold for the first time.

Hockenheim is also seeking state help to stage the 2010 German Grand Prix.

"(Without it) Formula One will disappear not just from Hockenheim but from Germany as a whole," circuit boss Karl-Josef Schmidt warned last year. "Then it will only be run in Arab countries."

There's no way Europe will be able to compete with China, Korea and India

Bernie Ecclestone

Germany's Nico Rosberg finished second for Williams in Singapore last September but when his Finnish father Keke won the world championship for the same team in 1982 he did not race anywhere in Asia.

The Australian grand prix did not make its debut on the calendar until 1985 while Japan returned for good only in 1987 after two races at Fuji in the 1970s.

Instead, Rosberg senior left Europe for four races in North America (three of them in the United States), one in Brazil and another in South Africa. Fast forward to 2009 and Brazil is now the only race in the Americas while Africa is a distant memory.

Formula One has always followed the money and the oil-rich states, emerging economies and governments in Asia and the Middle East are willing to pay the tens of millions of dollars in fees.

Evening races

Malaysia has been a fixture since 1999 while Turkey (2005), Singapore and Abu Dhabi have followed Bahrain and China in the line-up.

South Korean-based electronic company LG announced a five-year deal in November to become an official sponsor of Formula One.

Yet, despite the expansion, the sport still looks back to Europe.

The teams are all based there, so too are many of the sponsors and the Australian and Malaysian grand prix have both moved to evening races to accommodate European television viewers.

While the Asian races provide an exotic backdrop and a plentiful supply of money, the region's presence is shrinking on the racetrack itself.

At the start of 2008, Japan had two drivers and three teams on the starting grid. Following the failure of Super Aguri and departure of Honda, the country has just Germany-based Toyota, plus Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima.

Silverstone-based Force India, now using Mercedes engines, could make more of an impact than last season when they failed to score a point but their drivers are still Europeans.

Narain Karthikeyan made a breakthrough as India's first driver with Jordan in 2005 while Alex Yoong was Malaysia's first with Minardi in 2001-2.

It could be some time before either country provides another driver while China and the Middle East are still waiting for their first.