F1 eyeing races in Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia

• F1 racing in China, Japan and Singapore this season
• Liberty Media reportedly wants higher hosting fee from Monaco GP

Liberty Media chief executive Greg Maffei has revealed that Formula One is fielding heavy interest from countries in Southeast Asia for a future Grand Prix.

Speaking at an event prior to this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, co-hosted by Autosport Business, Maffei highlighted the series’ desire to explore new markets following an early focus on the US. 

“We’re lucky that we were able to get a Chinese race this year after four years,” he said, as reported by Motorsport.com. “It was very successful. The interest in China has exploded in part because we now have a Chinese driver.

“Critically, you see cultural identity so much when you have drivers from a country, and when you have teams from a country. And so that’s been great to see the growth in China.

“But there’s a lot of interest across Asia, as we have interest from many cities. But in Asia, as you rightly point out: Thailand, Seoul, and we’ve had interest from Indonesia. There are lots of places which want a Formula One race.

“We have really looked at the intersection of where our fans are, where they could be, who could run a great race, and who can frankly afford a race – and all those sorts of intersections of those three circles.

“I think you could very easily see a second one in Southeast Asia.”

Thailand has been the most vocal about targeting a Formula One race, although the prime minister’s recent visit to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was due to him being in Italy on official business, rather than a sign of advancing talks.

BlackBook says…

The timing of Maffei’s comments is interesting, especially ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

It has been reported that Liberty Media is looking for an increase in the hosting fee paid by the organisers of the iconic race, so what better time to discuss the increasing demand for new events further afield?

Formula One has also seen the benefits of a capacity crowd supporting home favourite Zhou Guanyu in China, which makes a Thai race very attractive with Alexander Albon currently on the grid.

Ultimately, the Asian market is underserved, and the African market even more so. Finding a balance between expanding to new areas while respecting the tradition of some historic Grands Prix will be the challenge moving forward.