- 3 months ago
- #considerthis
This October, Sepang will return to the Formula 1 calendar by hosting the F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix after the race was cancelled because of the conflict in the Middle East. So what does this one-off return really mean? And beyond the excitement of F1's return, what should Malaysia actually hope to gain from hosting this race? On this episode of #ConsiderThis Melisa Idris speaks with Datuk Razlan Razali, Former CEO of Sepang International Circuit (SIC).
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:10hello and good evening i'm melissa idris welcome to consider this this is the show where we want
00:15you to consider and reconsider what you know of the news of the day this october sepang will return
00:20to the f1 calendar by hosting the formula one gulf air bahrain grand prix after the race was
00:27cancelled because of the conflict in the middle east now what does this one-off return really mean
00:32and beyond the excitement of f1's return to sepang what should malaysians actually hope to gain from
00:41this from hosting this race well joining me now to discuss this further is dato razlan razali who is
00:46the former ceo of sepang international circuit dato razlan thank you so much for joining me on
00:51the show today talk to me about how significant this moment is i mean have we seen anything
00:57like this before how unusual is it that um this arrangement of a country hosting the grand prix
01:04for on behalf of another country has it ever happened before no no it hasn't this is the first time
01:11it's
01:11it's very unusual uh it's an exceptional because of the geopolitical situation in um in the world um i
01:20think i can remember that when when it was covered um malaysia was also rumored to replace china at one
01:27time okay um and it didn't happen um and i think portimao replaces china uh before um so to me
01:39um
01:40um we are we are lucky to to have this uh event uh it makes sense uh logistically um yeah
01:49i think
01:49malaysia is very very lucky to have formula one coming back after nine years okay so so it has never
01:55happened before so we still don't know how what the configuration is well what the details of the
02:02deal will be so the the race we know will be um will be known as will still be known
02:07as the golf air
02:09bahrain grand prix and it will be held in sepang but do we know who's responsible for what is bahrain
02:14going to be the promoter and malaysia's contributing the reason why is i'm wondering even though we're not
02:20paying the f1 hosting fee is this deal as straightforward a win-win situation as it appears
02:29well i think the prime minister announces that yeah it's it's basically free but you know
02:35malaysia still have to pay what 60 million ringgit uh so what does that entails i suspect could be the
02:41readiness of the track um upgrading the track the facilities maybe uh but it doesn't say much in
02:49terms of who will be promoting it is it supang circuit will they be marketing it uh will they
02:56sell tickets uh um i know that formula one has its own ticketing platform um will there be any
03:02ancillary events besides the three days uh so still a lot of questions although we're lucky that uh yes
03:09formula one is coming back to us after nine years just for one off i think we should be very
03:14very
03:14grateful and for the fans to be very very happy but the mechanics of it is still uh uncertain in
03:21terms of who's doing what okay but what would you like to see as some as an insider in this
03:26business
03:26someone who's seen the negotiations uh from from from the inside what would you like malaysia to
03:33negotiate for it as we work out the details of this deal well to be honest with you i mean
03:40we only have
03:42two months uh to do it um if we were to take that responsibility we make sure that we can
03:49do it well
03:51and we have the financial capacity to do it well uh and also the question is who's really paying for
03:57it
03:57um in terms of the technical part of it i think that it's not a problem in terms of actually
04:03running
04:03the race it's usually not us anyway it's fia or formula one that runs it um it's more towards
04:10marketing it uh the ticket sales the hospitality and the corporate suite the trade and vending who's
04:17actually doing that is it just going to be a three days weekend or will there be any ancillary events
04:23leading up to the event like uh will there be a model sport forum before we had uh f1 gala
04:29dinner
04:29um so this is still very unknown and it's a bit of a risk because you only have two months
04:36to do all
04:36this right so what would make it a success then um if if you know some of the things are
04:42out of our
04:43hands out of our control what would make uh hosting this one-off race uh success for malaysia what would
04:49be the net benefit for us well the minimum for me uh the basic or the very absolute minimum is
04:58to fill up
04:59the stands uh bumps on seats on that friday saturday sunday especially on sunday um although i say what
05:07i said i think after nine years i believe we will get uh uh the spectators i've hoped for it
05:15for it to
05:16be a sellout um so i think over three days we can i'm confident that we will get bumps on
05:21seats
05:21um beyond that you know i'm a bit uh um not say skeptical uh i'm not sure whether malaysia can
05:28really pull it off with such a short period of time and in terms of trying to do more than
05:34just
05:34the three days we can right and and the race i believe comes just a week before the singapore
05:41grand prix does that proximity create opportunity for malaysia to attract you know traveling fans or or
05:47does it risk i guess fans choosing one venue over the other well i mean don't forget before we call
05:55the race uh the last race in 2017 we were back to back with uh singapore uh i think two
06:01weeks uh uh
06:03gap uh with with singapore i think the i think 16 and 17 if i'm not mistaken look singapore is
06:10a totally
06:10different kind of formula one uh it's a street circuit versus a a circuit racing um it has much
06:18more ancillary events than than ours uh they can activate it very easily in the city uh where we can
06:25only do it at the track um although before petronas when they were a sponsor they did a lot of
06:30events
06:31in the city um it's it's very hard to to to emulate uh singapore but serpang circuit itself is unique
06:40um you know we had a lot of races in the past that is very much unpredictable so in terms
06:47of pure
06:47racing and spectacle i think that's what you get in serpang circuit but in terms of other events
06:52leading up to it um we don't have that much that we can do especially two months to go actually
06:59dr razlan for the viewers who may not be following uh formula one closely talk to me about what makes
07:04serpang such a a special circuit because i i've heard drivers and commentators often describe
07:09sepang as one of the most technically demanding tracks on the calendar what sets it apart well i
07:15mean the the track layout is number one um it has uh 15 corners uh high speed rolling speed
07:24very technical uh track that's one that's what one of the things that driver loves
07:30of course the demanding uh for both drivers and machines is basically the weather it's
07:36unpredictable you know my first formula one in 2010 or 2009 was it was abandoned because of the rain
07:45um so i think the combination of the technical layout the sheet the unpredictability of the
07:52weather it makes malaysia or serpang circuit much more exciting than a lot of other races in the world
07:58so i know that the formula one weekends are far more than just the race itself i think that many
08:04people wait for the concerts the fan festivals the entertainment being a huge part of the experience
08:09itself do we know anything about um maybe some of the off-track attractions that could contribute to
08:17the success the overall success of the event i mean like i said um you know we got two months
08:24lead time
08:24two months of preparation um and this is this news is just fresh out of the oven uh the the
08:32the final
08:33agreement is still being uh developed on um it's it's it's tough i'm not sure what serpent circuit can
08:41or cannot do um but to to ask for anything more than just a three days race i think it's
08:48it's it's hard
08:50uh for them but let's see give it a week or two weeks uh and let's see what kind of
08:55plans that
08:56serpent can come up with right okay so we don't have much time but this is a a real opportunity
09:02for
09:02malaysia because it's been as you said nine years since um formula one was last held here many
09:08younger malaysians they've never experienced the thrill of having a home formula one race
09:14how can malaysia use this opportunity really leverage this one-off race to build maybe a lasting
09:22interest in in motorsport maybe even an opportunity for a future for a future place in the f1 calendar
09:28who knows what do you think you know i i i know everybody's hoping that you know malaysia can
09:35continue uh beyond this year but um let's let's this news sink in for the moment you know uh let
09:44us organize uh uh the race in october as best as we can but at the same time use that
09:51we can to evaluate
09:52whether there is a future for formula one in the next five years because once everything is sink in
09:58we all know that to host formula one it is very very expensive this is a very exceptional uh round
10:06for
10:06us um so we have to use that we can as a limit that can we afford it this is
10:13a taste of it after nine
10:15years can we build on that the resident i sense i sense some apprehension or maybe uh hesitance on
10:23your part do you uh what are you most concerned about given the short lead time that we have to
10:29prepare what would be um sics or serpang's um biggest challenges that they need to to iron out before
10:38race day um like i said uh two months is a short period of time to organize a big event
10:44like
10:45formula one in terms of racing in terms of that three days in terms of organizing is not a problem
10:52because because it's it's managed by formula one themselves and fia or as i see to do more than that
11:00beyond the three days we it takes time it takes resources it takes coordination from all the government
11:07ministries to work together okay what we've learned for the since we host formula one in
11:141999 until 17 sic works on its own silo and then ministry of tourism works on their own mof or
11:23meti
11:24works on their own so we need teamwork among all ministries to work together and grow this event
11:31can we do that in the in the next two months i i'm not so sure uh uh so the
11:38best that serpang can
11:40do right now is to ensure it's a successful three days event get as many people to come get as
11:46many
11:46bumps on seats a sellout that would give a really good indication that malaysia is supportive of this
11:53event uh um yeah and and let's hope that we can build it in the next five years do you
12:00do you think the
12:01fact that there was uh royal diplomacy involved might give it the boost that's needed for this
12:07whole of government approach that you were you were describing um i hope so uh could be um um to
12:17be
12:17honest um yeah they they may influence the the decision but logistically if you look at the calendar
12:25the malaysia is very much best fit to replace bahrain or uh in between baku and and singapore it just
12:34doesn't make financial sense for it to be elsewhere um malaysia is ready in terms of facilities and
12:40track in some sense um yeah but maybe you know with with with this decision that's made um it can
12:49influence
12:49the government to really look into it um pull the resources together especially for this event
12:56and looking forward for the future wonderful dr razlan thank you so much for being on the show
13:01with me i appreciate your time dato razlan razali the former ceo of sepang international circuit
13:06we're going to take a quick break here and consider this more on this topic in just a couple of
13:09minutes
13:10stay tuned we'll be right back