Its always been known that the Formula 1 business is a venture that cost a lot of money. Be it from the perspective of competing teams, sponsors, logistical services and even those who own the ground these amazing racing cars competing on. For us in Malaysia, we have been privileged enough to be one of the beloved circuit to host the racing series for more than a decade before throwing the towels ourselves. In the very last year of the hosting at Sepang International Circuit, the venue hits an all time high attendance due to the sentiment and the bundle sales of the ticket along with huge discounts to its price.

Interestingly, there are many other circuits that has fall short on this venture and it seems like the organizers weren’t totally prepared to what is known to be one of the biggest touring circus there is in the modern day era. Formula 1 is known to be where the very best of manufacturers and motorsports athletes competes against each other in multiple spectrum of skills, technologies, strategies and even down to how they organize themselves in a season. The drama and the anticipation of whats coming next is high in adrenaline even when you’re just following from social media and news outlet like us at Drivin On.

But the cost of running these show isn’t just down to the rental of tracks and ensuring some people are stationed at the gates for tickets. There are more to it than just what we’re seeing. The movement of this “Mega Circus” calls for international collaboration across multiple principles and that alone isn’t easy. Some countries are truly well prepared for such thing to happen due to existing ecosystem such as connecting roads, hotels and restaurants or malls and nearby international entry port that makes it easy for the organizers to move things around. Some countries however fell short on these elements and had to build an entirely new network just to accommodate such event to be on ground.

A recent report of Korean International Circuit located somewhere in Yeongam hosted the F1 series but then went on to be a “Ghost” track following it’s final round in 2013 made headlines across the net. The report reveals some other circuits such as those in India and Turkey along with a few other countries revealed the price these nation had to pay just to host the pinnacle of motorsport event. But not all of it is true, some of these circuit didn’t turn out to be a “Ghost Facility” as they are active handling some regional and national level of motorsports activity. Similarly to Sepang International Circuit, the track is well utilized for local races and even some Asia and International races such as the recently concluded MotoGP World Championship.

Racing is expensive, hosting one is equally expensive. An organizer can really thrive when all of the common items within the ecosystem is well in place and works as needed to reduce the hassle of appointing or even creating a new one just for the sake of hosting an already expensive event. At the end of the day, media coverage, TV or Streaming, and attendance are what makes up the revenue needed to cover back the investment made for such event to be in place. A recent letter from the Korean International Circuit has been shared to Formula 1 body to show interest of bringing the event back to the country. Meanwhile, PETRONAS as the new owner of Sepang International Circuit denies the rumors of the series being brought back to Malaysia. One thing for sure, nothing is impossible if there is a right flow of money can be made towards making this kind of event happen. So lets watch on how this evolves in the coming months to come.