- Total commitment to staging event’s return would be more than US$350m
- Malaysia last hosted F1 in 2017
The Malaysian government has ruled out the return of Formula One due to the costs involved.
Sports minister Hannah Yeoh said hosting the series again would cost 300 million Malaysian ringgit (US$71 million) per year alone.
In addition to the cost of hosting rights, the circuit would need to invest significant maintenance costs at around ten million Malaysian ringgit (US$2.4 million) per year.
“Malaysia must also bind itself to a contract of between three to five years with Liberty Media [Formula One’s commercial rights holder], amounting to a commitment of about 1.5 billion ringgit [US$354.8 million] during this period,” said Yeoh.
“The current race calendar is very tight and if Malaysia is interested in hosting again, we will have to compete with other countries for a place on the calendar,” she added.
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Malaysia hosted Formula One for the first time in 1999 at Sepang International Circuit before dropping off the schedule in 2018 due to dwindling spectator numbers and spiralling costs.
The series now only visits Eastern Asia three times per season with races in China, Japan and Singapore, though this may change in the future.
In June, the Thai government approved a US$1.2 billion plan to stage a street race in Bangkok from 2028. However, Malaysia has not completely ruled out holding Formula One events again.
“We are open to this and can cooperate,” said Yeoh. “Formula One is a very prestigious sporting event that is followed by many fans around the world. So if we could afford it, it’s a good-to-have event in Malaysia.”
In order for that to be possible, Malaysia would need third-party support from the likes of Petronas, the Malaysian multinational oil and gas company, which currently title sponsors the Mercedes Formula One team.
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