BUKIT MERTAJAM: An announcement on whether the Formula 1 race will be making a return to the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) this year will be made on Sunday (July 26), says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
"With regards to F1, we will make an announcement on Sunday," the Prime Minister told the press after attending the opening ceremony of SMKA Sheikh Tahir Jalaluddin here on Saturday (July 25).
Anwar was responding to a question on whether the F1 race would be held in Malaysia this year to replace the Bahrain Grand Prix in October.
It was earlier reported that active discussions are ongoing and assessments are being made on the possibility of hosting the F1 race here.
Youth and Sports Minister Dr Mohd Taufiq Johari said Anwar and the ministry had received early indications of the possibility of Malaysia hosting an F1 race, following the country’s last staging of the event in 2017.
Motorsports portal the-race.com reported on Thursday (July 23) that Malaysia could be included in the F1 calendar at short notice this year if the conflict involving Iran continues to cause disruptions.
In mid-March, the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races scheduled for April were postponed following the war, reducing this season’s calendar from 24 to 22 races, German news agency dpa reported.
According to the report, if the final two races of the season in Qatar on Nov 29 and Abu Dhabi on Dec 6 cannot proceed due to the conflict in West Asia, F1 management is considering several other options.
Before tensions involving Iran escalated again, organisers had hoped to reschedule the Bahrain GP for the first weekend of October, between the Azerbaijan and Singapore races.
However, that possibility is now seen as increasingly unlikely following renewed tensions between the United States and Iran.
As a result, Malaysia and Turkiye are now among the candidates to host a race on Oct 4, according to the report.
SIC hosted the Malaysian GP from 1999 to 2017 before it was removed from the calendar due to rising hosting costs and licensing fees.
