Written by Maria Fashchevskaya, Edited by Carl Hilliard
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is in Thailand to discuss potential plans on a new addition to the Formula One calendar. The Thailand Grand Prix, if successful in talks, may be hosted in the country's capital of Bangkok, as a brand new city street circuit in the future.
Commenting on his visit, Domenicali said in a statement via the F1 social media channel:
"I was delighted to meet with Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the Prime Minster of Thailand, and her team today to discuss their impressive plans to host a race in Bangkok. I am looking forward to continuing our discussions in the weeks and months ahead."
Currently, F1 itself and the racing teams have an agreement of a maximum 25 races per year in place. However, the addition of a Thailand track to the F1 schedule has been at the forefront of negotiations, since it was announced that the Dutch Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix would not be on the calendar after 2026 and 2028 respectively.
As some circuits drop out of the calendar, several countries are hoping to host an F1 race in the near future, with interest to host races in Asia and Africa. For example, an addition of a Grand Prix on the African continent is strongly supported by seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead the season-opener in Melbourne, Domenicali revealed that he found it a good thing that Formula One has been able to focus on places that they believe represent the future of the sport.
"In terms of promoters and tracks that we are already at, we have a long-term standing agreement with a lot of them that enables them to invest, to improve the facility, to improve the quality of the entertainment that we need to give to our fans.
We receive a lot of attention from other places in the world. (...) And we have other places in Europe, and there are interests in Africa, interests in South America now.
But the most important thing is that we keep this kind of situation that it is a privilege (to host a race), to give us the leverage on having a great possible improvement everywhere we go."
At the moment, Thailand hosts only the MotoGP championship near Buri Ram at Tha Chang International Circuit since 2018. With Alexander Albon as the only Thai driver on the grid, Thailand and Formula One are certainly interested in hosting another motorsport event in the country.
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