Alex Albon reveals Stefano Domenicali meeting amid Thai GP talks

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has held talks with the Prime Minister of Thailand, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, as interest in a Thai Grand Prix rises.

Following the Australian Grand Prix, Domenicali confirmed that he was “looking forward to continuing the discussions” with Shinawatra, stating:

“I was delighted to meet with Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the Prime Minister 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.”

As the only Thai driver on the grid, Alex Albon is keen to turn this into a reality. While speaking to the media ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, the Williams driver revealed that he would be meeting with Domenicali later to discuss it further.

“Yeah, firstly, keeping up with Stefano [Domenicali] and asking him. I think we’re going to meet up later about it. But it’s very exciting, clearly for myself, but I think for all of us, not just myself as well.

“Thailand’s an amazing country and I’m sure people who have actually been to Thailand will vouch for that. I’ll be excited to hopefully one day show my colleagues the culture of Thailand and the food. It will be interesting.

“The heat. That’s one area in which it might become a Singapore 2.0, but all the more for it, so on my side, just doing everything I can to make that happen but, let’s see what happens.”

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 ahead of the meeting, Domenicali confirmed that Formula 1 receives “a lot of attention from other places in the world.”

“I think the good thing that we were able to do in the last couple of years is focus on the places that we do believe represent the future for Formula 1,” he said.

“We receive a lot of attention from other places in the world. By the way, I’m just finishing the race here in Melbourne, I’m going to Bangkok – there is a potential interest from the government to develop something there.

“We have other places in Europe, and as you know there are interests in Africa, there are interests in South America now.” 

With the gradual introduction of a rotational calendar, a Thai Grand Prix could join the schedule in the future.