Formula One's bosses have shelved ideas to introduce a new calendar that would have been one of the biggest logistical changes in the sport for years.

The proposed plans would see the season begin in Europe and finish in Asia, via the Americas.

One of the fundamental arguments for the shift had been to save on the extensive travelling of the teams around the globe.

The current schedule sees European tracks used for the central part of the season and is flanked by races in the Americas, Asia, and Australasia, but with no clear, logical order.

Though the regionalised schedule makes sense in the interests of the environment and fatigue within the teams, commercial F1 chief Sean Bratches has said that the introduction of the plan is on ice for now.

"From an aspirational standpoint, I am an optimist – but I am also a realist, and based on some of the contractual commitments we have, and based on weather issues, it will be a while before we can get there – if we can [at all]," Bratches told Motorsport.com, as per Planet F1..

"We are trying to point this ship in that direction which will be much more efficient for fans, because we can navigate them for a period of time in the same timezone.

"It will also be more efficient for F1 to avoid the expensive travelling, and it will also create opportunities from a sponsorship standpoint because if somebody wants to activate in Europe, or the Americas, or Asia, it is difficult to do as we bounce all around right now."

As well as making changes to the calendar's structure, there is also talk of new additions to the schedule and the recall of others.

Vietnam, Miami, and Argentina have been mooted as possible locations, and Bratches didn't rule out the possibility of any of them joining the line-up.

The F1 boss confirmed some "interesting opportunities" are on the table as other current locations only have short-term security.

"Some of them are short [deals] – Germany is back in this year, but it's a short-term agreement for the year," he added.

"We have interesting opportunities if we want to take them."

The Formula 1 calendar can be extended to 25 races, but Bratches has said Liberty are not thinking about the numbers.

"We certainly could add races, we've got a lot of places that would like to have races – not always places that we'd consider – but I think there are actually quite a number that would be real positives for us.

"But I think our real focus is to ensure quality over quantity. We have the capacity and the rights to add races, and can ultimately go to 25."

Potential changes to the F1 circus are certainly an interesting development to keep an eye on in the future, but with the 2018 season starting in Melbourne on the weekend of March 24, it will be put on the back-burner for now.