Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone made a sudden surprising revelation in a magazine interview published yesterday: that Singapore is not interested in continuing to host the Grand Prix here.
Claiming that Singapore may not extend the deal to run the night races after 2017, the British business magnate didn’t sound too pleased in the article by German magazine Auto Motor Und Sport. He hinted that Singapore may no longer renew the contract as the powers that be here already achieved what they wanted with the Grand Prix.
“Look at what we have done for Singapore. Yes, the Grand Prix has cost Singapore a lot of money, but we’ve also given them a lot of money,” Ecclestone said in the interview.
“Singapore was suddenly more than just an airport to fly to or from somewhere. Now they believe they have reached their goal and they do not want a Grand Prix anymore.”
The news arrives not so much as a surprise — this year’s edition of the Singapore GP had the poorest ticket sales since the first night race eight years ago. A 15 percent drop in attendance was reported, with a total of 219,000 spectators at the Marina Bay Street Circuit during the three days.
As for the people behind Singapore GP themselves, they declined to reply to various media queries, stating that they “don’t comment on ongoing commercial negotiations”.
In the interview, Ecclestone also didn’t hold back in hinting that some current manufacturers like Mercedes could be quitting in the near future.
“We have to expect the manufacturers to leave us anyway. Mercedes will retire on the day when it suits them and it’s something we had before – look at Honda, BMW and Toyota,” he said.
“They go when Formula 1 has done the job for them. There is no gratitude. It is the same with the organisers”.
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