Enormous cost of hosting F1 race as Malaysian GP bosses eye return | F1 | Sport

The boss of the Sepang circuit has claimed it will cost more than £50million annually for Malaysia to return full-time to the Formula 1 calendar. The Sepang International Circuit has not hosted an F1 race since 2017, but that exile will end in October this year after a deal was hastily arranged for it to host the Bahrain Grand Prix, after it was deemed unsafe to go ahead with an event in the Middle East.

The Bahrainis are understood to be covering the vast majority of the costs involved, hence why the event will still be called the Bahrain Grand Prix and is sponsored by its state-owner national airline, Gulf Air. Malaysia is, on this occasion, essentially just providing the FIA grade one-licenced circuit.

Naturally, though, its sudden return to the F1 schedule has prompted questions over whether Malaysia could make a play for an annual race going forward. Sepang is not expected to feature on the 2027 calendar, unless it steps in again to host on behalf of a Middle East nation in the event that conflict in the region continues.

But the circuit’s chief executive officers, Azhan Shafriman Hanif, has hinted that a return could be possible in the future – if enough funding is secured to pay for the minimum £55m he estimates it would cost to put on the race. “My estimate is no less than 300 million ringgit [£55m], that is the cost,” he said.

“But we also need to look at the overall returns. Based on the data I have seen, most host countries generate returns of at least three times the amount they spend. In other words, if we spend RM300 million, the potential return to the country could reach RM1 billion.”

He also went on to point out that there also need to be room on the F1 schedule, adding: “Perhaps in the future, based on the data we obtain from hosting this event, it could serve as a starting point for our decision. The other factor is the availability of a slot on the F1 calendar itself. If there is no slot, it will not happen.

“So the two main criteria are having the funds to pay the rights fees and having an available slot on the calendar. For now, our focus is to deliver this event successfully. We are working together with Bahrain and Formula 1 on this one-off event. We will see if we can gain the confidence of the stakeholders, the government, Formula 1 and the Bahrain government. Perhaps then we can consider it again.”

F1’s 2027 calendar has not yet been released but it will feature races at Portimao in Portugal and Istanbul Park in Turkey, both of which are returning after absences of several years. The new Madrid-hosted Spanish Grand Prix, debuting this year, will also feature.

To make room for those events, the Barcelona and Belgium races have been turned into bi-annual events sharing just one slot. F1 currently has no plans to go beyond 24 events per season, and so the addition of any new races in the coming years would need more current venues to go rotational, or drop off the calendar altogether.