Sepang International Circuit hosted the Malaysian GP from 1999 to 2017 before it was removed from the calendar due to rising hosting costs and licensing fees. (Bernama pic)KUALA LUMPUR: The youth and sports ministry is holding discussions and assessing the possibility of hosting a Formula 1 (F1) race at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) to replace the Bahrain Grand Prix (GP) this October.Youth and sports minister Dr Taufiq Johari said his ministry and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had received early indications of the possibility, following the country’s last staging of the event in 2017."The youth and sports ministry remains committed to its mission of continuing to support the development of national sports, including motorsports."Further developments will be announced once they have been finalised," he said in a statement today.Motorsports portal the-race.com reported on Thursday that Malaysia could be included in the F1 calendar at short notice this year if the Iran conflict continues to cause disruptions.The Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races scheduled for April were postponed in mid-March 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, the F1 management will consider several other options.Before the 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 appears increasingly unlikely given the renewed tensions between the US and Iran.As a result, Malaysia and Turkey are now among the candidates to host a race on Oct 4, according to the report.F1 is expected to make an early decision on the proposed race when the championship enters its mid-season break after this weekend’s Hungarian GP in Budapest, before racing resumes at the end of August.SIC hosted the Malaysian GP from 1999 to 2017 before it was removed from the calendar due to rising hosting costs and licensing fees.
Summary from source