Malaysia has ruled out returning to Formula 1 for now.
The Sepang circuit last hosted F1 back in 2017 and remains a firm favourite among fans, who often call for a comeback if a space opens up.
However, Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh concedes hosting the Malaysian Grand Prix remains impossible due to the high financial demands.
“F1 is very expensive. We had to wait for RM20 million from the government just to upgrade the track,” she told local publication The Vibes, per MotorsportWeek.
Also Read:
“If we could host an F1 race we would already have done it, but for now, we can’t afford to have the races.
“For now, we will use the money for urgent fixes.”
Another circuit revealing financial struggles is Monza, the historic home of the Italian Grand Prix.
The ‘Temple of Speed’ is contracted to host the race until 2025 but has been under increasing pressure from F1 to modernise in the face of strong competition.
And Angelo Sticchi Damiani, president of the Automobile Club D’Italia, warns the burden on Monza financially is becoming too great.
“They [F1] say that Europe has too many GPs, and there are requests from America, Asia and now also Africa,” he said via La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“The Monza circuit must evolve, change, keep up with the times. We invested €44 million [£38.8m] last year, which went very well, but we still lost money, because the Autodromo has a very high running cost, regardless of the Grand Prix.
“Now our budget is beginning to have difficulties, and we cannot be left alone in this challenge.
“In the meantime, we must concentrate on the work planned for the coming months. Four projects, two of which are definitive, on asphalt and subways.
“The project to resurface the asphalt of the track has been delivered, and soon we will have the final project of the subways, which are necessary and indispensable because in the flow of the public, we cannot have promiscuity between pedestrians and cars.
“We expect a quick approval in order to proceed with the tender.”
Though the Italian GP is not scheduled until September, Damiani is unsure exactly when the upgrades to Monza will be done.
“When the works are handed over to the company we will talk about the calendar,” he said, “and at that point it will be easy to understand if it is possible to do them before or immediately after the GP.
“But what we have to show [F1 president] Stefano Domenicali and F1 is that we are proceeding with seriousness and concreteness. We did what we had to do, now the rest is done entirely by procedures.”
This comes as F1 is rumoured to be planning a 25-race calendar for 2024 with South Africa and Vietnam set to join the schedule.
Kyalami has been pushing for a return for several years while Hanoi’s original 2020 debut was derailed by COVID-19 before being canned over a political dispute.
However, F1 chief Domenicali was reportedly in Vietnam after the recent Australian GP, while the South African government is understood to have stepped in to secure its place on next year’s calendar.