Argentina is considering a return to the Formula 1 calendar in the coming years, the country’s sports minister has said.
The South American nation last welcomed the sport back in 1998 at the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez in Buenos Aires before financial problems and ageing facilities led to its demise.
Since then, several locations have been linked to hosting F1 including a street circuit in Mar del Plata and a new circuit that was built in Zarate.
Neither came about, but since then MotoGP has returned to Argentina at the Termas de Río Hondo in 2014 and newly appointed sports minister Matias Lammens sees big potential in bringing F1 back.
“We would like to work towards recovering Formula 1 in a few years,” Lammens told Diario AS Argentina.
“It would be very interesting for Argentina from a sporting and a tourism point of view.”
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However, unlike the MotoGP event, he admits an F1 venture would require private investment.
“Although this is a significant investment, I believe that we can work to make it happen with private sponsors,” he added.
Argentina is just the latest in a lengthy line of countries eyeing F1, with a second US race in Miami, Panama, Saudi Arabia and South Africa also likely future destinations.
This also comes as Liberty Media targets increasing the schedule from its already record level of 22 this year upto as many as 25 in the coming few years.
