Petronas has clarified that while it holds the naming rights to the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), it does not own the race track located in Sepang, Selangor. Instead, the circuit is owned by Sepang International Circuit Sdn Bhd, a company under the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc) and is operated by an agency under the ministry of youth and sports.
As such, the company is not the event organiser for the Formula 1 race set to take place in Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) in October this year. In an official release, the company stated that it does not manage, control or have access to ticket allocation, sales or distribution.
It added that ticket sales for the upcoming event are managed solely by the event organiser and its authorised channels. For now, we’re are still waiting for official details regarding ticket sales – ‘Madani tickets’, anyone?
On July 26, it was announced that the Bahrain Grand Prix will be relocated to Malaysia, with the event officially called the ‘Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia’. This takes place over the weekend of October 2-4 and slots in between the Azerbaijan Grand Prix (September 24-26) and Singapore Grand Prix (October 9-11).
As previously reported, a Malaysian stop on the Formula 1 calendar was heavily rumoured to replace the Bahrain GP, which was originally scheduled for April 10-12. The West Asia conflict forced Formula 1 to announce in March that it would cancel the Bahrain race along with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (April 17-19).
The cancellations shortened the season from the originally planned 24 races to just 22. While Saudi Arabia’s race will not be rescheduled, Malaysia’s agreement to host the Bahrain race without bearing the full financial burden means we are now up to 23 races, although the war could see the season-ending events in Qatar and Abu Dhabi being cancelled as well. The last time Malaysia hosted a Formula 1 race was in 2017.
This isn’t the first time where a Formula 1 race isn’t held where the location in the event name suggests. There was the 1982 Switzerland Grand Prix that actually took place at the Dijon-Prenois circuit in France, while the Luxembourg Grand Prix in 1997 and 1998 was held just over the border at the Nürburgring in Germany.
Old rules restricting countries to one grand prix per year also saw the San Marino Grand Prix be held at Imola, Italy from 1981 to 2006. Under Liberty Media ownership, Formula 1 no longer adheres to this limit, hence why the United States has three races (Miami, Austin and Las Vegas).
corprate tickets please