It has been confirmed that after 17 consecutive years since 1999, the 2018 Malaysia Grand Prix will be the last, according to the Malay Mail. Tourism and culture minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said that the government will not renew the current agreement once it expires in 2018.
“The current agreement is from 2016 to 2018. So once that ends, there will be no more [F1 in Malaysia],” Nazri said, adding that he concurs with youth and sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin who tweeted last month that he has considered dropping the event.
Khairy stated then that it might be better for Malaysia to take a break from hosting the grand prix, as it was turning out to be costly affair and isn’t bringing the necessary returns into the country.
Nazri added that the country isn’t recouping the money that it spends on each race. “F1 attendance is dropping and there is less attraction now,” he said. “We are spending RM300 million a year [for the race]. We are not even making back RM300 million.”
He also said that attendance at Formula 1 grands prix have been dropping not just in Malaysia, but around the world, adding that the failure of more Malaysian drivers to make it to the top-tier racing series has also contributed to dwindling interest in the sport over here. “It’s a different story for MotoGP, because the interest in it is still there. We will lose a lot tourism if MotoGP is stopped,” he said.
Malaysia isn’t the only one, it seems – Singapore is also mulling an end to hosting its GP after 2017.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
lol now we have a white elephant of a race track
n u think sepang circuit oni for F1?
Education & healthcare still no Bajet :(
Education & healthcare for the poor alredi in Bajet, unless u din know cuz u walked out when start of Bajet talk lah.
Last bajet i do hear bajet for edu n healthcare is still available
They just spent quite a fair bit of money to renovate the track to meet F1 regs. But at least the track can be booked for other events, not just MotoGP. Can do car launches, even normal people can book the track to test their personal cars. Up to the owner to promote it
white elephant?
1. private track days on almost every week
2. bike trackdays and practice session on every weekend
3. car open track days on every week and months
4. Malaysian superbike series
5. local car race championship
6. Asian talent cup.
7. etc etc.
you really dunno much on how sepang contribute to our local motorsport dont you?
then why is sepang losing money??? If you list down all 7 points, why is it losing money???
it is not exactly sepang that’s losing money. it the hosting F1 that’s losing money.
having said that, without F1, the condition of the track will soon be like our stadium merdeka…
Theres alwiz MotoGP
Losing money for F1. That is why they want to stop it. Not all other event.
Sepang Circuit and F1 race is different entities dude.. Since 1999 the generate profits yearly not just by hosting F1 but many other occasions too.. It just F1 is losing it attractiveness and big sum of hosting fee. Got it? Where were u since 1999?
beside banks, which GLC is making money…LOL..
When they took 10 years to realized the fact they were actually losing than earning, they should just quit being minister.
I can assume lots of you here dont really know about F1, lol. Thats not a minister to blame, its the FIA to blame.
F1 going down hardly all over the world mostly coz people not enjoying the new F1 turbo engine, its dull, boring, not exhilarating as the previous V8,V10,V12.
Take ur time , listen to the older engine, what a music to our ears
LoL… you’re saying the ministers are responsible for the engine downsizing etc? Please… they can choose to opt out long ago. Why waste money renovating Sepang circuit to renew when it was already dwindling many years ago? You think F1 only got boring last year? It had been going down hill since V8.
if can opt out, then whats the use of contract then? f1 sepang used to generate revenus as the only asean nation to host f1 races. now with tracks everywhere, the everchanging rule by old man bernie, the attraction to the sports is gone. but contract is still in place. hence why after 2018 they will not hosting them again. aiyo
The contract will expires. You think Malaysia sign one contract for 10 or 20 years? Malaysia opt to renew it each time. Simply lacking planning and vision. If already bleak and losing money non stop, should put a stop few years ago instead of spending millions to renovate and then thinking to pull the plug. As if the hole wasn’t big enough.
@Andrekua. Renewal is done for 3~4 year period. During the contract is active, no breach is allowed w/o compensation. So like it or not, MY needed to continue until next renewal which is 2018. Sepang started losing serious money when SG F1 came in which is during the contractual period. So they cant be faulted entirely.
LOL, I said its coz of FIA not minister.
U the 1 blaming the minister.
SEPANG TRACK still making money , BUT NOT from F1 anymore.
Renovating Sepang, not wasting money. U never been to a track day or join a track day ? Its so much fun after being renovated,
Renovating Sepang is losing money since they did it due to Bernie request. Of course they could recoup it by organizing other event such as MotoGP.
and it took less than 5 seconds to put in a baseless comment.
A couple of F1 circuits are losing money even if it’s European based. I don’t know why you blame the sports. It’s obvious that our ministers were sleeping. They had the numbers all the while, so why insist on hosting F1. Even Germany, the so called Holy grail for car manufacturing opted out for few years. Silverstone could be next.
the likes of big autoracing player like germany would have alternative income i.e DTM, and lots of test driving done on the nur track. one of malaysia’s main income comes from tourism so that could play a part in it.
Yes, same with sg sport ministers should be blame too bcos they will also quit f1.. but nobody will say it..
Bernie was greedy, tracks around globe losing money each time, the sport is dying, and yet u can claim ini semua salah our minister.
Fantastic logic!
It’s always someone’s else fault. Brilliant.
You sound like saying Bernie added the tnc after the contract was signed. You already knew what’s up and still pursue the course.
I’m not even focusing on the first decade of hosting the GP. I’m focusing on the latter half when the sport already going down hill. The first 10 years could be justify as to promote Malaysia. However the gov still continue after that despite yearly report of smaller crowds in the latter half.
The next time the toll rates being revised, please tell me that the gov shouldn’t be blamed for it. Instead blame the greedy concession holders. Right?
The problem with hosting the F1 GP is the greed of the main power player, Bernie Ecclestone. He made the contract in such a way that hosting country like us can only profit from ticket sales and nothing else, especially not the TV sales rights. So despite us spending millions each year preparing the track and spending on the F1 certs, the only way to get back money is thru ticket sales. How to survive like this?
Dun worry. Kiasu will stop hosting 1 year ahead. They alwiz ahead early. Even bankruptcy.
singapore didnt spend billions to build a racetrack, they are always smarter than shitty BN ministers.
Well, why we are failing ? and before he made the statement, did he compare why singapore is giving up and why we are giving up ?
Things not just one click then it will make the money, LMAO
Formula 1 need at least a V8 engine to gain back the crowd, thanks to new rules, F1 going down the drain all over the world.
A racecar with no soul, no more exhilarating, no more adrenaline rush.
Bring back Honda V10 then F1 gonna survive ;D
Go watch some utube for F1 Honda V10, wew thats an eargasm
Many things make F1 not popular here; high priced tickets if you want a somewhat comfortable viewing position, the weather which is either too hot and steamy or torrential rain, very little local involvement in the racing teams i.e. no local drivers and not even one member of any pit crews, people have better use of their shrinking income, tough to get to and fro and parking at the Sepang F1 circuit, the races have become quite predictable, expensive gifts and souvenirs, umbrella girls are just meh, etc. etc.
Spend 300 million a year (for the race) not even making back 300 million for the past 17 years ?
Ipoh plan to build oval track , somebody said can attract local and oversea tourist ! Come on lah don be childish …!
With rich teams dominating the race; the race is no more fun to watch and follow ..
It is one of the smartest/wisest thing to do. This time, even S’pore follow M’sia. Hip Hip Hooray.
Good Job Nazri, one of the best tourism minister in Asia, and also the most outspoken one. The F1 is just another agenda to suck money out of host countries to fund their own interests. Where does the F1 money goes to? Funding wars? Malaysia has now waken, and Singapore is following suit too. I reckon we can host our own race which will be bigger and better than F1 if Nazri is in charge of it.
– Faiz Roslan CEng
Our ministers finally wake up today, F1 is always losing money business.
because of no revenue ke because of ego?
What a shame that this is happening while a team sponsored by Petronas is dominating the sport. If it is not a profitable venture, I wonder why cities around the world are clamouring to hold the event?
It is due more to our failure to capitalise on the event rather than blaming it on raising cost. This year’s F1 was so lacking in promotion that Malaysians generally did not know about the race except for the F1 fans.
sooooo singapore and germany failed to capitalize the event also? and also silverstone next?
F1 fan.. nak bashing biar ade ilmu.. kan ko dah nampak mcm org bodoh.. singapore pun tatik diri anjur f1 tahun depan.. apa sebab ye F1 fan? Hahahahahha
Because Petronas are the party that is supposed to fork out money for the team, event and also the government. But since they are really in a bad condition due to the low crude oil price, non-essential things to their operation has to be cut down.
Tell that guy in Perak.
F 1 is started in europes.. because of cultures , the peoples there are so passion and love the race . I think the country there build F 1 track not the reason to attract tourist or make others know his country. All becuase the passion of race !!
F1 and other big ticket/ expensive investment is a strategic decision. I do hope that the Malaysian government has reviewed its original strategic intent in setforth in 1999. To say that its not generating return of RM300m annual based on spending is rather simplistic. Tourist spent, sub services to support F1, etc have to be factored in. If indeed the spent is costly, then the govt has to figure out what to do to generate the right return of investment/ values for the facilities and services already established.
Should we positioned Sepang Circuit for ASIAN level motorsport events and development programmed?
remember, singapore is MULLING to pull out. so they havent confirm yet. so heres the thing:
scenario 1: singapore pulls out. both malaysia and singapore dont host f1 anymore. expenditure stop, but will it save money? thats still not confirm yet. it really depends on so many factors. for example servicing DEBT on unnecessary and stupid ventures. example : u know lah
scenario 2: singapore renegotiate and successfully got a favorable deal. so malaysia still dont save money due to unnecessary and stupid ventures, and yet singapore managed to do one better.
thats scenarios for you to stomach. its not versus singapore thing that matters, but its about getting the best for your country. managing country isnt just like arranging home chores. its about giving ur country some bargaining powers and the best for your nation and generation.
khairy was saying about not getting the 300 mil they spent. what if i say he is wrong and there is solid proof and calculate-able evidence that we are getting more than 300 mil than he said they spent?
this is why they say, dont jump into the mud for it doesnt no longer care whether u are from harvard or BM high
Malaysia stop…i think SG will continue…then Asean only SG host F1…SG more bargain power with F1 now.
Since Singapore also will be exiting the F1 scene, would SIC host the F1 race at night time for the remaining 2017-2018 seasons thus at least increasing some percentage of the spectators? Plus, it would be nice if SIC collaborate with event organisers such as Rockaway Festival or Urbanscapes by bringing famous notable bands around the world during the race week.
Need to major upgrade facility for night race just for 2 more years. It dun make sense.
Msia to pull out from F1 where SG remain as an F1 host: Its ok Nazri. Since F1 is SG is held at city circuit and it is more interesting to watch.
But if MY & SG pull out from F1, it is a mistake. Yes MY might not able to cover that 300 mil from ticket sale, but how much earnings generated from tourism industry, by PLUS (all supercars from SG will use highway to sepang to watch F1), summonses collected from AES, PDRM etc, parking at sepang (costs RM50 per vehicle), hotels, gerai makan at sepang, etc.
The problem arise from 2 factors: No involvement from malaysian in F1 (except Petronas) in the track, and lack of marketing including expensive tics.
Just positing a question, how many billboards are in KL to promote F1 this year? How many commercial ad in TV promoting this event? and F1 demo also no more held in KLCC compared to sauber-petronas era & BMW-petronas era.
What can I say, national automotive industry fail to nurture motorsport interest in Malaysia to higher level, yes it is a huge investment but motorsport especially drift & drag race have huge amount of followers in Klang valley especially from Subang to Dengkil. Go and have a visit at garage around that area. Plenty of Vtec, Toyota KE and others prepped for the race.
There are 2 sides of coin. To save and cut cost OR to spend wisely to generate more income. To play safe or to take risk.
Bring back Super GT !!
When MAS loosing money, why they never close down the company instead of keep on taking funds from rakyat?
Blame the organizers for failing to gain profit from F1. Very poor marketing strategy paired with poor planning is a result of loss of profit.
Try giving it to a private firm to organize and see how successful it would be. For example, Singapore doesn’t even need a racetrack to organize a F1 race which was a success and they ran the whole event including setting up temporary street track for SGD$150mil. Try reading online how did Singapore become one of the most successful F1 host in the region and you will understand. Don’t blame the sport, but blame the management.
Nah, this is Malaysia. Ministers are on godly level. They will always blame the sports and never ever look at the mirror themselves. How much do you think they knew about the sports in the first place, other than trophy ceremony and passing lucrative renovation contract to crony. Show them the drivers picture and ask them to guess their name for a start.
They will say for tourism sake, this and that. In the end of the day, say they will never recoup the money spent despite insisting that it will spur the tourism industry for the past 15 years++.
Dude. If SG was soooo successful, why they wanna pull the plug 1 year ahead of MY? Actual fact, SG is losing as much money as MY, or more since they have to resurface for every F1. They just realised their kiasuness was a fatal blunder.
Haha .. SG kiasu.?
Because of MY got F1, so they want one too…so simple.?
SG tourisim cannot just realise on botanic garden, setosa island , zoo , orchards road from the past 30 years.
SG is very small island, but thier Asean country neighbor hv so many atractive natural and cultures places to atract peoples all around the world to visiting.
Of course they studying F1 MY before hosting F1, but 100 % not just because ” malaysia ada F 1 , kito SG mau juga.”
Why dun you say SG hv biggest port & airport, underground trains, MY kiasu follow …?
Simple? Yes, if u understand kiasu-ism. Lets follow ur example here, if SG had sooo much attractions for tourist – why need the glamour of F1, even when they know it was going downhill? U think they stupid on purpose kah? No way, not from ur idol country, right?
Even the commentators don’t sound as enthusiastic as before….hahaha
It’s F1 problem that make MY and SG so near by to have compete even though it’s city and circuit different ..now no one cares..
Good thinking. Better spend that 300 million for the rakyat. But don’t worry F1 fan, soon after DAP take over Malaysia, they will start organize F1 again.