In April, many F1 fans’ hearts were crushed when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that the contract to hold the race would not be renewed next year.
According to a Bernama report, this decision came after the relevant parties studied reports and views from the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) regarding the difficult financial implications.
Malaysia has been hosting the F1 Grand Prix for the past 17 years, since 1999. Every year, thousands of fans flocked the circuit to catch the adrenaline pumping race and their favourite drivers.
The upcoming race happening at the SIC this weekend from 30 September to 1 October will be the final edition hosted by our country. And to ease the heartache, SIC decided to give away 5,400 tickets to youths for free!
The Department of Special Affairs (Jasa) director-general Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi told Bernama that the tickets will be issued to local youth leaders and distributed to youths in their respective areas.
This was a move to encourage more youths to watch the upcoming race which they had probably only watched on TV in the past years, as part of SIC’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) effort.
“This will also give youths an opportunity to witness the success of the country in organising world class international events,” Mohd Puad said, as quoted by Bernama.
However, this is not the end of international races in Malaysia because the F1 will be replaced with the Moto GP next year. So all you adrenaline junkies will still have the opportunity to watch more races in the coming years!
Were you one of the lucky ones who got a free ticket to catch the F1 Grand Prix this weekend?