After the successful hosting of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia race last month, there’s been a clamour for Sepang International Circuit (SIC) to be back in the F1 calendar for good. That has led to a feasibility study on bringing F1 back to Malaysia, and it will be presented to the cabinet in the third week of this month, or at the end of November.
SIC CEO Azhan Shafriman Hanif said that the study will detail a few main aspects including the cost of hosting the race, the readiness of the track, infrastructure and the potential economic returns for an F1 race. He said that SIC will work together with the finance ministry and the ministry of youth and sports, while taking feedback from the private sector including hotel and F&B industries.
“We need to look at the entire aspect including cost, preparedness of the circuit and infrastructure as F1 isn’t a small thing to organise. It’s a national project,” Azhan told reporters yesterday after the 2026 Malaysian MotoGP race in SIC yesterday, which was won by Marc Marquez.
Azhan added that based on early discussions with F1 commercial rights holder Liberty Media, a possible hosting slot for Malaysia will only open in 2029. In the meantime, SIC will hold further talks with F1 to look at opportunities and other forms of cooperation that can be done in the near future, he said, reported by Bernama.
SIC’s CEO said that the cost aspect is the main consideration, as hosting F1 needs big investment, other than appropriate infrastructure. At the same time, SIC is looking at an ‘F1 tax mechanism’ to ensure that returns from related economic activity can be channeled back to the government to help recoup some of the investments.
Then soon SEA will be the best all 3 neighboring country to host F1 all together so syok.
Our F1 started to decline after Singapore F1. Most will want Singapore due to easy access. And night race so it’s cooler.