Bernie Ecclestone is to be presented with a fresh blueprint for Formula One that would revolutionise the sport’s scheduling.

The new format would see three seasons within a season, with a separate series of races in Europe, the Americas and Australasia, with two meaningful breaks.

The idea comes from Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motor sport director, who enjoys a close working relationship with Ecclestone, F1’s chief executive. It follows last week’s meeting of the FIA World Council, the sport’s most important legislative body.

The meeting was told TV audiences were in decline in the wake of another disappointing season. Half the teams in the paddock are also fighting for survival within a deeply flawed business model.

Hembery’s plan would help rationalise some of the current complicated travel arrangements between continents. But its main aim is to strengthen support for Formula One in the United States.

Hembery told the Guardian: “I will be talking to Bernie shortly about this. I haven’t worked out the logistical problems. It’s up to the teams to do that. But this is all about getting more interest in Formula One, and particularly in the Americas.

“The market people all say the same thing, which is that the biggest problem in F1 is with the timings. They are all for Europe, which means in America they have to get up ridiculously early to watch the racing.”

The idea has been suggested before. But it has never got anywhere, largely because some events have their traditional slots in the calendar.

Now Hembery says something must be done. “There are so many barbed comments about F1 being boring. And if we’re not careful we’re going to talk ourselves into a sport which nobody wants to watch. We are in danger of creating our own downfall.

“There is too much negativity about the sport. And if we do nothing we will have what we have now, which is unacceptable. The most recent changes we made, with technical regulations, haven’t worked. They worked for Mercedes, who have done an outstanding job. But it hasn’t worked for others.

“We’ve lost noise, which has always been a big element of Formula One. And we’ve created a complexity, because some engine manufactures have found it a really big challenge. And all the time the costs have gone up.

“What we have to do is create a more compelling product for the public, who want to see more overtaking and epic battles.”

Under Hembery’s plan each continent, or series, would produce its own champion, leading towards an overall champion at the end of the year. The natural starting point would be Australia, as it is now, before moving to Asia. The circus would then transfer to Europe before finishing in the Americas, with rounds in Brazil, Mexico, Montreal and, Hembery hopes, California.

As in many other sports, the US represents Formula One’s biggest potential market. That is why there are more F1 circuits there – 10 – than anywhere else in the world. But they have fallen by the wayside for different reasons and now the latest of them, Austin, is in danger after seeing crowds collapse in a weather-hit event in October. The staging of a race in Mexico the following week didn’t help either.

Hembery added: “To lose Austin so soon after getting there – and it’s a good circuit and a well organised show which the fans enjoy – would be phenomenally negative for the sport.

“I also think it’s important to have a race in California. With this regional idea we could create a concentrated interest in the sport and help build a real fanbase. If we carry on making Formula One for European television we will end up with a Europe-only audience.”

The problem Hembery faces – as do so many people in F1 – is finding a consensus among the fiercely self-interested teams.

Ecclestone, meanwhile, has his own problems. Along with his unlikely ally Jean Todt, the president of the FIA, he is locked in a battle with Mercedes and Ferrari to regain his once unchallenged control of the sport.