JANUARY 12, 2007

A second bidder in Singapore

Amid unsurprising talk that Malaysia may not host a Grand Prix, comes news that the plan for a race in Singapore has been slowed down by the appearance of a second bidder for the event.

Amid unsurprising talk that Malaysia may not host a Grand Prix, comes news that the plan for a race in Singapore has been slowed down by the appearance of a second bidder for the event. The original plan, which is believed to be backed by billionaire Kwek Leng Beng, was close to being completed when the second bidder appeared on the scene.

It is possible that this may all be part of the negotiation process but there is little doubt that there is some enthusiasm for the idea in Singapore, a city which has suffered as rivals such as Dubai and Shanghai have emerged to take away business.

The original plan is for a street race to aim to create an Asian equivalent to Monaco. Macau may already claim that role but the circuit is unsuited to F1 and there has been no sign of anyone investing to turn the track into an F1 venue.

Malaysia's deal with F1 is until 2010.

The Singaporean newspaper Today has also revealed that the government is also considering an approach from the A1 Grand Prix series. This would be a lot cheaper than F1.