Speaking to FMT, he said the sponsorship should continue even though it had not brought profits.

The government should instead be studying ways to reignite the public’s interest in motorsports, he added.

“I’m saddened to hear that the government wants to stop sponsoring the F1 races, more so because I was once involved in the sport,” he said.

He was responding to Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz’s statement that Malaysia would stop hosting the F1 races in 2018. Nazri said the government was losing RM300 million a year in sponsoring the event.

Yoong acknowledged that he was “not shocked” by the statement. “I know that the sponsorship is expensive and it’s not making a profit following the decline in ticket sales.”

He said Malaysia should not throw in the towel but instead be confident that motorsports would be lucrative.

“What is important is that we need more avenues to support this industry, like having more circuits for Formula 2 and 3.

“The government must also focus on whether or not it wants to groom racers for this sport or give more attention to generating money through the sponsoring of motorsports.

“We need a new plan to get people to support this sport again.”

Several weeks ago, Sepang International Circuit (SIC) chief executive officer Ahmad Razlan Ahmad Razali said the cost of sponsoring the F1 was too high and the profits too low.