Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei has revealed that a new Formula 1 race in Southeast Asia is possible, with Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea all showing an interest.
The F1 calendar has room for one more race under the current 25-round limit under the current Concorde Agreement, triggering rumours that Chicago could be added.
But sources have since quashed that there could be a fourth race in the United States on the calendar, with Liberty touted to be looking to expand F1 into other regions.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was present last weekend at Imola amid rumours that he wants to bring the series to Bangkok with an all-new street circuit.
Maffei has disclosed that Thailand has expressed interest, but also divulged that Indonesia or a return to South Korea could come in alongside the Chinese Grand Prix.
“We’re lucky that we were able to get a Chinese race this year after four years,” Maffei told Autosport.
“It was very successful. The interest in China has exploded in part because we now have a Chinese driver.
“Critically, you see cultural identity so much when you have drivers from a country, and when you have teams from a country.
“And so that’s been great to see the growth in China. But there’s a lot of interest across Asia, as we have interest from many cities.
“But in Asia, as you rightly point out: Thailand, Seoul, and we’ve had interest from Indonesia. There are lots of places which want a Formula 1 race.
“We have really looked at the intersection of where our fans are, where they could be, who could run a great race, and who can frankly afford a race – and all those sorts of intersections of those three circles.
“I think you could very easily see a second one in Southeast Asia [alongside China].”
Maffei explained how F1’s choice to become the race promoter behind the Las Vegas Grand Prix enabled it to grasp what the spectators in attendance are demanding.
“We’ve really changed the sport in many ways,” Maffei asserted.
“One of them is this really was a B2B business where we really just dropped the product on the local promoter and they sold it.
“But more and more, between things like F1TV and promotions that we have been doing ourselves like Las Vegas, we understand the fans better.
“We’re a direct-to-consumer business and we understand their needs.
“That allows us to have better learnings and meet their needs better over time, including in Las Vegas.
“So I’m excited for what we can do together there. I think it’s going to be a great spectacle. And I hope it remains as thrilling a race as it was year one.”
The inaugural event in Las Vegas last November began on a sour note when a loose drain cover witnessed Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari car sustain substantial damage in FP1.
However, the race would prove to be a thrilling encounter, and Maffei is anticipating it will be able to use those lessons to put on an even better spectacle later this term.
Regarding his hopes for the 2024 Las Vegas GP, Maffei said: “I hope we can get a race nearly as good, or even better.
“I hope we have no track failures early – that would be nice! That was a heartache too early.
“I think our dry run went very well, and we can only hope that the spectacle is as good.
“I expect we will learn to optimise and do things more efficiently because in some cases we move so quickly.
“I really credit the team at LVGP and our partners in how quickly we moved to get that up. To get that race from literally zero in 15 months is amazing.
“I think we’ll be smarter next time. And we’ll be more efficient and that will probably be less disruptive to the community.”
