Malaysian Grand Prix on its way back? "We want to bring it back"
F1 News
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has revealed he intends to bring back the Malaysian Grand Prix, as he explained the interest in F1 is still "very big" in the country.
The last Malaysian Grand Prix was held in 2017, which was the 19th time the race was held at Sepang.
The Vietnam Grand Prix, which will be added to the calendar in 2020, will replace the Malaysian Grand Prix, as Sepang was not deemed up to Formula 1 standards in terms of safety and facilities any more. In 2017, Romain Grosjean crashed his Haas in Free Practice after driving over a drain cover that wasn't welded properly and came loose.
The prime minister didn't have an exact date when the Grand Prix could make a comeback, but he did express his and the country's interest.
“We intend to bring back the Grand Prix, but I don’t know if it’s next year or the year after," he told Malaysian news source The Star Online.
“But the interest in Grand Prix is still very big and we want to bring back the race here, because it has stimulated many Malaysians to go into the automotive industry.”
Economically, Dr Mahathir thinks it's definitely worth doing, as the races would generate a very large audience.
"We will be able to get spectators, more than 100,000 people and that will be worthwhile for us. Besides, when we have the Grand Prix, the television stations will broadcast this all over the world, bringing about 200 million viewers,” he concluded.