Malaysia rejects night race

Eurosport - Mon, 29 Sep 10:57:00 2008

Regardless of the success of the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix - F1's first-ever outing at night - Malaysia has underlined that it is not interested in running its own race under spotlights.

2008 Malaysian GP Renault Alonso - 0

Despite Formula 1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone's assertion that he wants more floodlit Far Eastern events on the calendar in the future, Malaysia has insisted it will not be one of them.

Ecclestone is keen on holding as many Grands Prix as possible in the Pacific Rim area in the evening, in order for them to be broadcast at a far more palatable time for key European viewing audiences - therefore satisfying the fans, sponsors and on-site spectators, who will be able to soak up the F1 atmosphere 'after dark'.

Whilst the 77-year-old has hinted that he would be keen for countries such as Malaysia, Japan, China and Australia to follow Singapore's lead, the former has stressed that a night race is emphatically not an option.

Sepang International Circuit boss Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir revealed to local newspaper The Star that the track's F1 deal has been altered simply to accommodate a delayed race start, claiming that Ecclestone 'has agreed' that Malaysia does not need to become a night race, principally due to organisers' concerns about the cost of installing lighting infrastructure.

"It will still be daylight," Mahathir said. "And about 7pm, when the new race finishes, for fans in Europe and Britain it would be about 10am. We are not going to lose out."

Crash.net / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 16 of 16

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  1. I really enjoyed the night race and would like to see a couple more, but I am still fine with getting up in the early hours, night or day, just give me an exciting race!

    From tifosi4eva, on Mon 29 Sep 7:50PM

  2. Well done to Malaysia for standing their ground. Bernie fails to realise that lighting up an open circuit is hard.
    Singapore is a street circuit and is well setup for lighting. You can't put a streetlight in a gravel trap now can you!
    Afterall the reason F1 goes all across the world is that there is a market all across the world. The locals will get fed up of watching their race at a god forsaken hour on a Sunday.
    Bernie F1 doesn't need a night race! Get out of F1 now!

    From Oliver Tunnah, on Mon 29 Sep 5:00PM

  3. dont worry iprahip

    that race only squandered about 500million $£$ of local illgotten funds

    From olga.wins, on Mon 29 Sep 3:53PM

  4. barry ``` speak for yourself NOT others

    you would have great fun with the money ~~ IF NO CARS AGREED TO TURN UP

    F 1 is a European invention & controls it top to bottom

    From olga.wins, on Mon 29 Sep 3:51PM

  5. ALL F 1 teams factors/facilities are in europe ++ ALL CARS BUILT +PRODUCED IN EUROPE
    ~~ ,,,, so naturally Europe takes priority/
    From a prior post-

    NO!!-EUROPE does NOT take priority! It's ALL about MONEY!!!!!
    Who-ever has the money-gets the race!
    It is simple business practice!
    If you know ANYTHING about business, you will know that 'loyalty' ONLY lasts until the money runs out!

    It's a 'new' age financially, so get used to it!

    Barry
    Toronto

    From Barry M, on Mon 29 Sep 2:24PM

  6. How many resources (electricity, fuel, rubber, etc.) were consumed (wasted) for this event??

    From Igor, on Mon 29 Sep 11:15AM

  7. He is good driver

    From Hazel, on Mon 29 Sep 8:36AM

  8. yeah its really good to drivers and speed also not doing as much as in day.

    From jay k, on Mon 29 Sep 8:01AM

  9. CONGRATULATIONS TO STAR BUSINESSMAN BERNIE FOR HIS GREAT ORGANISATION
    the worst ever race circuit caged in metal fencing 10m high `` all 2B demolished today

    but smart Bernie persuaded the locals to splurge their illgotten £$£$ millions on the circus fiasco !

    ALL F 1 teams factors/facilities are in europe ++ ALL CARS BUILT +PRODUCED IN EUROPE
    ~~ ,,,, so naturally Europe takes priority

    From errattic.results, on Mon 29 Sep 7:53AM

  10. i agree Bernie only cares about europe
    here in australia its ok every race is about 9pm on HD but 11pm on standrad

    From shizzelez, on Mon 29 Sep 5:59AM

  11. I hate Eccelstone's Eurocentric dictatorship in F1. Why does everything has to be done in favor of the European viewers. What about viewers in Asia and American continents? Here in the Americas, we have to watch every race at 6.00am in the morning and that is on a Sunday when everybody wants to sleep a little bit late. We look forward to the Asian leg of the season so we can watch races on Saturday night. Now Malaysian GP will be probably at 4-5am. I hope the Asian organizers stand up against these absurd ideas. Singapore GP was good but look at the costs to the organizers and the waste of resources. At a time when FIA is trying to promote green technologies, F1 is trying to add a huge electricity bill to the costs.

    From Anon, on Mon 29 Sep 2:12AM

  12. Fantastic city, awful circuit - very boring for fans. Almost no overtaking options, none of the glamour of Monaco. Even Valencia looked better than this and that's saying something.

    From GeoffreyM, on Mon 29 Sep 1:27AM

  13. Leave night time hanky panky to the yanks,F1 is daytime entertainment.

    From wizzo, on Sun 28 Sep 10:53PM

  14. tony, you're so naive.. of course this kind of sport needs a lot of money. You want a good race, then don't overlook on money factor!

    From matt, on Sun 28 Sep 9:23PM

  15. I can live with watching the race at 10am no probs. As for the night race, i enjoyed it, would have been good to throw a little rain into the mix, but i suppose you can't have it all. Overtaking was a bit of a disapointment. Rosberg said it was to bumpy to take the inside line to overtake, so next year they could improve that. All in all, a good race. And well done to Hamilton too.

    From keithwatson1997@..., on Sun 28 Sep 8:13PM

  16. This is good news, the night race today was like driving in a tunnel
    it was @#$%, no feel for the track at all, it waS LIKE BEEING IN A CAGE
    and for once the mafia caught a cold serves them right.
    I have been following F1 for over 50 years then drivers turned up on the
    day and drove the car,no practice in fact they drove a sports car race in the morning
    then the GP in the afternoon.Unfortunatly a big number of drivers did not live very long. It was very good racing, no pit stops etc.The drivers sat on the car not in
    them. Things have gone a long way since those days, please do not just chase money
    lets have a good race.

    From tonyrlaw@..., on Sun 28 Sep 6:19PM
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