Thailand wants to host a Formula One event, with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin pitching Bangkok as a circuit for a street race that will help the nation’s status as a major tourism hub.
Mr Srettha met with F1's chief executive on Monday and said the country has all it takes to hold the competition.
F1 executives were in Bangkok to survey and study the routes for the race at the invitation of the government, Mr Srettha said in a post on X.
A third of the 24 F1 races scheduled for the 2024 season, which began on March 2, will be held on a street or hybrid circuit. These are races that take place either entirely or partially on closed-off public roads that have been transformed temporarily into racetracks.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore hosts the F1 race on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, located on the city’s waterfront. Since its debut in 2008, the F1 Singapore Grand Prix has attracted more than 550,000 foreign visitors and generated around S$2 billion ($1.47 billion), according to the island’s government.
If Thailand gets the rights to host an F1 race in 2027, it could generate about 4 billion baht in economic value and generate more than 1,000 jobs, a deputy secretary-general to the PM said on X.
