Formula 1 recently announced the introduction of a third GP in the USA, set to take place at Las Vegas, where races had first been hold on 1981 and 1982. Next year the drivers will compete in a Saturday night race in November on the iconic Strip.

Many drivers were pleased with the announcement, especially seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton:

"Three races on one continent; I think that's going to be awesome. I think it'll be good for the business. Vegas will be an awesome addition."

However, the Mercedes driver is more in favour of a return to South Africa after almost thirty years: "But the one I really want to see is South Africa. That's the one I want to hear next, that gets announced."

Reigning champion Max Verstappen is also on board with the idea: "Yeah, I think it's a cool place and also I think the track and the general thing, the race weekend will be pretty crazy with a lot of people attending and I think just, you know, the scenery in general, it's going to be insane."

Verstappen also stressed the importance of having in the calendar a good mixture of iconic tracks and new venues or street races:

"Yeah, I think we have to find a balance, of course. It's just very important that we make sure that we do visit proper tracks still, not only street circuits, but I'm sure F1 is well aware of that."

"I can definitely understand that we need a few more races in the US to increase the popularity there as well, and of course we are happy to go there. But we will also, I think, find it important to keep a few historic track which are really enjoyable to drive on the calendar."

His position is shared by Sebastian Vettel: "I think it's always exciting to go to new places, providing they are good places, right places for us to be at," said the four times world champion, presenting Austin and Singapore as good examples of addition to F1's historical calendar.

"Equally you don't want to lose out on the places you've gone to for so long. But then there's only so many weekends in the year and I don't know, maybe alterning one year and another year could be an option. But there's plenty of interest."

Vettel warns that, while the financial aspect of the addition of new tracks and events to the calendar is important, it shouldn't be the main criteria to decide where to race.

"Obviously, there's financial interests in new places. that we are going and in the end F1 is a business. But I think, yeah, for us, it's a sport, it's our passion. So we don't see it as a business."

"Places mean something because of the history they have, or the tradition they have. And I think it needs to be sort of a mixture between exploring, but also holding on to places that have history, a big fan base."

Fernando Alonso's "only concern" on the otherwise great news is the number of races in a year, which should be watched carefully in order to not stress too much all the people working in F1.

"There are some positives, bringing Formula 1 to new countries and discovering these new races. I think Las Vegas, for example, it's going to be very exciting. And Miami, and these kinds of weekends. On the other hand, I think we need to be careful with the number of races."

"We should agree on a limit, because I think for the teams, it’s quite demanding how the schedule and the calendar is now, especially that we don't have so many races in Europe anymore."

Another key point to keep in mind while making new additions to the calendar is the quality of racing that can be provided at the venue. It was brought up by Red Bull's Segio Perez, excited at the prospect of a race "closer to Mexico".

"First of all, it's great that Formula 1 is growing so much in another continent. So it's a great opportunity for the sport, I think we are all going to benefit from it. So it's fantastic."

"At the same time it would be good to keep the history within the sport, and we need those historic tracks to always be with us. We have to make sure that when we go to new venues, to really have some character on the tracks, you know. I felt like some of the new tracks kind of lack a bit of character. So that will be very important."