Fans of Formula One were shocked this week by news emerging from China. The country is considering bringing an end to its Formula One Grand Prix, with a final decision on the proposal likely to be made early next year.

China’s largest city, Shanghai, has hosted a Grand Prix every year since 2004 on a track which cost over £160 million to build. The city has a contract with Formula One for another two years but increasing problems have caused officials to reconsider the staging of the event.

Attendances over the past five years have been extremely disappointing and people living and working in Shanghai are not fans of the event. Embarrassingly for officials in the Chinese city and for Formula One, spectators from other areas of the country are often specifically transported to the track in order to give the impression of popularity on race day.

Qiu Weichang, who is currently the deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, has revealed that officials in China would like “at least to break even” and would ideally like to reap some of the benefits currently seen by Formula One officials.

The commercial boss of Formula One, Bernie Ecclestone, has benefitted from a large financial gain since China started hosting a Formula One Grand Prix and Qiu Weichang is keen to “create a win-win situation, for our side and for Bernie”.

The deputy director was also keen to play down the possibility of a night race in the city of Shanghai. Although Singapore sees the benefits of night races, Shanghai has its “own situation” and would not necessarily benefit from a race during the evening hours.