Formula 1’s governing body wants more races in China and Asia
Formula 1’s governing body has insisted it wants more races in China and Asia as part of a Far East pivot ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) told City PM that Asia had become a key growth market for the not-for-profit motorsport governing body, which this year posted a healthy surplus of £5.7m as part of its best financial results in a decade.
Lung Nien Lee, vice president for sport in the Asia Pacific region, said a pivot to Asia, and specifically China, would result in more Grands Prix in the region.
“This is one thing that shows how the world has changed since President Mohammed [Ben Sulayem] has taken over,” he added.
“Historically it’s been a very European base, but the FIA is an international organisation and if you look at the races now, you’ve got three in the US, you’ve got the Middle East, you’ve got Asia.
“In the past, it’s always been Europe; we’ve got 24 races and we envisage that it is going to be a truly global sport.
“China is a big play for the FIA – they’ve got 1.4bn people and over the last 20 years, it’s been doing its own thing. It’s only now, over the last five years, that we have actually started reaching out to China.
“The depth of China is something that is part of the president’s manifesto, which is to double motorsports.”
Formula 1 at Silverstone?
There have been proposals from the likes of Vietnam, Thailand and India to host F1 Grands Prix in the future, with a second race in China not out of the question. Indonesia, too, hosts a MotoGP race alongside Malaysia and Thailand.
Chiefs of the two-wheeled racing series told City PM last month that Silverstone would be safe amid a need to globally spread out the calendar by the end of the decade, as MotoGP also looks to move on from a traditional European base.
And the FIA – whose return to profitability comes amid new agreements with Formula E and Formula 1, and alongside sponsorship deals with Siemens and AI platform Tomorrowi.io – stressed that an Asian pivot isn’t just happening in Formula 1.
Craig Edmondson, the FIA’s chief commercial officer and former Premier League marketing lead, said: “We’ve just come back from Macau from the FIA conference; we’re going to be in Shanghai in December for the FIA awards; our general assembly is moving to Doha; and we were in Kigali only a few years ago – the first time we’ve hosted such an event in Africa.
“Previously these events were always held in Paris and Monaco and nowhere else. So this is a real step change in terms of the global outlook.”