Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Khairy Jamaluddin telah mencadangkan supaya Malaysia menghentikan penganjuran perlumbaan Grand Prix Formula Satu (F1) disebabkan kos yang terlalu tinggi tetapi pulangan yang diperolehi pula adalah terhad.
Ia disebabkan jualan tiket F1 yang semakin menurun manakala jumlah penonton TV menjunam dan pada masa sama pelawat asing juga berkurangan.
Menteri Pelancongan Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz yang menjelaskan bahawa Malaysia memerlukan kira-kira RM300 juta untuk menganjurkan perlumbaan tersebut setiap tahun.
Dengan harga tiket yang mahal dan tidak mampu dibeli rakyat Malaysia katanya, pihak SIC terpaksa berhempas pulas untuk menjual 30,000 tiket grandstand berharga RM500 hingga RM1, 000 dan 100,000 tiket Hill Stand
Bernie Ecclestone may have done a lot for the sport during his time at the helm, but on Friday, he was accused by the chief executive of Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit of having “made us look like idiots” after he admitted that he had deliberately over-charged tracks to stage Formula One races.
“I don’t understand why he made those kinds of statements,” Razlan Razali said in an interview in London. “As a loyal customer of his for the last 19 years, it showed a total lack of respect, I think, and made us look like idiots in some ways.”
The race is set to be removed from the grid after this season and it will possibly take quite some time before the fixture returns to the country. A combination of low attendances and high fees has led to Liberty Media coming to this decision.
The government spent around $67.6 million annually to stage a race first run in 1999, and that was no longer something that Sepang International Circuit (SIC) officials and their political bosses could tolerate.
Earlier this month, 86-year-old Ecclestone, ousted from his position of Formula One supremo, had admitted in an interview that he was over-charging.
Speaking to Autosport during the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit, one of several new venues for Formula One in recent times, he said, “When I convinced people to build this place and all the other places, I feel a little bit responsible. I charged them too much for what we provide.
“On my watch, we didn’t deliver the show that we charged people for.”
He added, “Sooner or later I’m frightened that the governments behind them (the track promoters) will say enough is enough, and bye-bye.”
That is pretty much what happened in Malaysia and Razali said, “We always complained that the cost was too high and every year we tried to negotiate to get more value for money.
“To come out with that kind of statement, it’s frustrating and it makes us look like idiots really.”
Menurut Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Litar Antarabangsa Sepang (SIC), Datuk Razlan Razali, sejak 2014, kadar keuntungan penganjuran F1 mula menunjukkan kemerosotan dan pulangan hasil tidak menunjukkan perkembangan yang positif.
Selepas beberapa tahun, syarikat korporat Malaysia sudah hilang minat di dalam membeli kerusi korporat di paddock club dan membuat iklan, Ia kerana kurang memberi ruang dan kurang impak kepada syarikat koperat tempatan.
Malah dari segi publisiti pula, F1 sebagai destinasi global tidak lagi menunjukkan keberkesanan seperti pada awal penganjurannya.
Litar tersebut yang bernilai RM286 juta direka khas oleh Tilke Ingenieure Fir Umwelttechnik dan Iktisas Enginieurs untuk siri perlumbaan bertaraf dunia Formula 1, Grand Prix Motosikal Dunia dan lain-lain sukan lumba bermotor
Pada 1 Oktober 2017 depan, perlumbaan Grand Prix Formula One (F1) di Malaysia akan berlangsung untuk kali terakhir di Litar F1 Sepang,
Grand Prix F1 yang diadakan di Malaysia bermula pada 1999, di Litar Antara bangsa Sepang yang baru, dan menjadi antara legasi ikonik Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Bernie Ecclestone manusia kerdil yang bininya tinggi menggalah telah menyedari kesilapannya kerana mengenakan caj penganjuran F1 yang terlalu tinggi.
Selepas Malaysia, Singapura difahamkan akan turut menarik diri daripada penganjuran F1 di masa akan datang.
