Parliament Sitting on 10 Apr 07: Question No. 190 for Oral Answer: Mdm Ho Geok Choo: Formula 1 Racing

Question No 190 of Notice Paper No. 107 of 2007 for Oral Answer

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mdm Ho Geok Choo, Member of Parliament for West Coast GRC

Question
To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry what is his Ministry's position on the recent comment by the Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister that Singapore should not establish Formula 1 racing in view of the fact that it will be competing with Malaysia

Answer
Mr Speaker, Sir. It has been widely reported in the media that Mr Bernie Ecclestone, Chief Executive of the Formula One Group, is keen to increase the number of races per season from the current 17 to 20. So, just like Abu Dhabi and Seoul, the possible addition of Singapore to the F1 calendar would not necessarily be at the expense of any of the existing races. Moreover, we understand from public information sources that Sepang’s contract provides for a race to be held each year until 2010.

It is natural for some competition to exist between all F1 races. However, we do not see competition arising, or it being disadvantageous, just because of geographical proximity. In fact, there are several F1 races that take place in the same region, such as those in Monaco and Monza, which is in Italy, and in Fuji (Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan) and Shanghai. There are also many other factors. For example, each race is unique in terms of character and circuit design. Sepang has a dedicated circuit, while we are looking at a street circuit. Should Singapore host the F1 Grand Prix, there will indeed be much scope for both countries’ events to complement each other.