Malaysian GP back? 'Mercedes sponsor wanted to revive race'
Rumors
- Ludo van Denderen
Spa-Francorchamps future as an F1 circuit is uncertain. There is already a candidate to fill the potentially vacant spot. The Malaysian Grand Prix could be an option to return. Kuala Lumpur last hosted a race in 2017 and Verstappen secured his second Grand Prix victory. Hamilton won at the venue in 2014.
Malaysia first hosted an F1 championship race at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) in 1999, but that run ended in 2017. Due to declining ticket sales and rising costs of hosting the event, the plug was pulled.
Petronas want a revival
Reuters reports, based on a trio of sources in the Asian country, that Malaysian state oil company Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, wants to bring Formula 1 back to Malaysia in 2026 after a nine-year hiatus. Petronas, a main sponsor of the Mercedes F1 team, bought the naming rights for SIC in October last year.
Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz, the CEO of Petronas, reportedly told the news about Formula 1 at a town hall meeting, which the media were not allowed to attend. The news agency reported that the three sources wished to remain anonymous.
The news is quite remarkable, as only a year ago, the Malaysian government announced that a return to Formula 1 was highly unrealistic. After all, there was no budget to organise a Grand Prix.