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Mercedes chief Wolff calls for F1 return to South Korea, credits Petronas for fuel innovation
By Administrator
Published on 10/07/2025 08:00
Sports

SINGAPORE — Mercedes will take Formula One back to South Korea for the first time in 12 years with a show run in Yongin next week and team principal Toto Wolff thinks it is high time the sport again made an annual visit to the country.

The team will head to Korea on a high after George Russell gave them a second win of the season at Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, one of only three East Asian stops on the current 24-race calendar, along with Japan and China.

South Korea hosted four grands prix at Yeongam from 2010 to 2013 and Wolff strongly believes the tech-savvy population would embrace the product Formula One has become over the last decade.

“It has been a little bit of an untapped market for a while now, considering that Formula One has grown very strong over the last few years, particularly in the younger target group,” the Austrian told Reuters in Singapore.

“You know, our strongest growing demographic is young females from 15 to 24 and they are very active on social media.

“South Korea is an extremely social-media-connected country and so it would be great if we could come back and show how Formula One has changed over the last 10 years.”

Formula One now has six races in the Americas and four in the Middle East on top of its traditional European core.

“(Formula One chief executive) Stefano Domenicali — his aim is always to balance it well,” Wolff said.

“And there’s obviously commercial factors, but also long-term planning, and I believe that we have a little bit of a blank spot in (East) Asia.”

East Asia’s modest presence on the calendar is also reflected on the grid, with just Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda and Thai Alex Albon representing the most populous region of the world.

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