Formula One is not expected to come back to Malaysia anytime soon as the government concentrates its efforts on helping the country’s economy recover from the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, the circuit’s boss said.
The Sepang International Circuit’s chief executive, Azhan Shafriman Hanif, told reporters in Singapore yesterday that the government would reevaluate its choices in two to three years.
The premier international motorsports event was staged at the Sepang track, located outside of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the first time in 1999, and for the final time in 2017.
Due to the event’s growing costs, Malaysia was removed from the F1 schedule in 2018.
“At this juncture, the answer is no, not for the time being,” Azhan said when asked if Malaysia is planning to host the race again.
“Perhaps in another two to three years when the economy has stabilised.”
He said that Malaysia’s prior hosting of F1 promoted sports tourism and “placed the nation on the map.”
The Sepang Circuit is a popular one in the motorsports world with former F1 driver Romain Grosjean citing it as one of his favourite tracks to race.
But before F1 comes back, the government must consider the “larger picture” in terms of what it would mean for the nation.
“We need to know the return in terms of the spillover effect,” he said.
“We need to look at the rebranding, how do we monetise the platform. We need to talk about technology transfer, talent development and environmental sustainability.”
This week, he and other representatives of the circuit were in Singapore to promote the MotoGP motorcycle race, also known as the Petronas Grand Prix, which will take place at the Sepang track from October 21 to 23.
Following a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, this will be the first MotoGP event to take place at Sepang.
After Russia was removed from the race schedule in response to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February, rumours about F1 returning to Malaysia surfaced.
Singapore will host the F1 Grand Prix night race from Sept 30 to Oct 2.
Azhan said Singapore “made the right call” to promote the event not only as a race but also as an entertainment spectacle, which includes concerts and parties.
“If Formula One were to come back to Malaysia, it has to be hinged on something else, not only on the race. There must be another purpose why we are doing Formula One,” he said.
Since its debut in 2008, the F1 race in Singapore has generated more than S$1.5 billion (RM$4.5 billion) for its tourism sector. It has also welcomed more than 550,000 unique international visitors.
