Formula 1 back in Malaysia: sports minister peremptory

Because of the high costs of organization, the Malaysian Grand Prix and its iconic Sepang circuit are unlikely to return to the Formula 1 calendar in the near future.

In order to unblock the situation, the Asian country’s government would have to commit to signing a three- to five-year contract with Liberty Media, which would represent a commitment of about 1.5 billion ringgit (304 million euros) for that period, Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said Thursday before the Malaysian parliament.

“To these costs must be added about 10 million ringgit (2 million euros) a year just to keep the circuit up to the international standards required for top-level competitions: we could think about that if private companies were willing to take on the expenses” she later added

Malaysia had joined the F1 calendar in 1999, only to leave it in 2018, precisely because of costs. Sepang still hosts the MotoGp world championship today. On that track, Marco Simoncelli unfortunately lost his life.