F1 says Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia eyeing races

With F1 satisfied that its three races in the United States are enough for that market, attention has shifted to other regions to capture a growing worldwide interest in grand prix racing.

Speaking at an F1 in Depth event in Monaco on Thursday night, which was co-hosted by Autosport Business, Maffei said that the successful return of the Chinese Grand Prix showed what was possible.

“We’re lucky that we were able to get a Chinese race this year after four years,” he said. “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].”

Thailand’s prime minister visited last weekend’s Emilia Grand Prix as he pushes for a street race in Bangkok from either 2026 or 2027.

Vegas lessons

Maffei was joined at the F1 in Depth event by leading representatives of the Las Vegas Grand Prix and explained how F1 had come to understand better what fans wanted through its decision to become the race promoter of the event.

“We’ve really changed the sport in many ways,” he said. “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.”

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