Malaysia says it will not renew contract after 2018

The future of the Malaysian Grand Prix has been thrown into further doubt with a government minister claiming the race contract will not be renewed.

Sepang CEO Razlan Razali said the race was under threat back in October due to poor returns and low ticket sales, with television viewership also falling. Now, the government's tourism and culture minister Nazri Abdul Aziz has told local media the current contract will be the last in Malaysia as race hosting fees rise year-on-year.

"The current agreement is from 2016 to 2018," Aziz said. "So once that ends, there will be no more [Formula One race].

"F1 attendance is dropping and there is less attraction now. We are spending RM 300 million a year [£54.5 million].

"The cost of hosting F1 has increased 10-fold compared to the first time it was held."

The news follows claims from Bernie Ecclestone that Singapore wants to end its spell on the F1 calendar, with the Singapore Grand Prix set to host the last race of its current contract in 2017.

The Malaysian Grand Prix had been held in March or April in recent years, but this season saw Singapore and Malaysia paired on the calendar for the first time, albeit two weeks apart.

INTERVIEW: Rob Smedley on Felipe Massa

2017 driver line-ups so far

FEATURE: When F1 team-mates fight for the title

SILBERMANN: A long-winded tribute to an often long-winded man

From the cockpit: Felipe Nasr on two precious points in Brazil

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.