Farewell Formula One, hello MotoGP!

In the 19th and final race last Sunday, Dutch driver Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing won the contest but Mercedes AMG Petronas' Lewis Hamilton further cemented his overall lead after scoring 18 points for the second place, to achieve a total 281 points.

In their respective press conferences, the drivers had said they were going to miss the circuit. "One of the toughest race" was how Hamilton had described it.

The Sepang International Circuit (SIC) certainly has its charms; the wide, flowing corners provided drivers with heart-stopping overtaking opportunities that city centre circuits couldn't. And not to mention the challenges brought forth by the unique Malaysian weather.

Here are three reasons why Sepang is ditching F1:

Those watching the race from the stands have fallen considerably in the past 15 years.

The Singapore Grand Prix records and average of 250,000 spectators while Malaysia barely pushes the 100,000 mark.

While critics argue that a lot more promotion can be done to get people to come and watch the race, the novelty of the F1 sport in Malaysia is, unfortunately, just isn't there anymore.

The Malaysian government has to cough up RM300 million from its coffers to host just one F1 race, but just a fraction of that for other events such as the Grand Prix motorcycle racing (MotoGP).

SIC CEO Datuk Razlan Razali noted that while F1 is a great product, it is just not as good as before.

If organising an F1 race is too expensive for Malaysia, then it will certainly be too expensive for Malaysians to come and watch.

It reportedly cost only some RM10 million to host a MotoGP event. And the exposure that the event gets is about the same as F1, said Razlan.

Eyeballs for MotoGP has been soaring since 2010 in Malaysia. According to market research firm Freedonia Group, Asia-Pacific is the market for motorcycles, with 84 percent of overall sales recorded in the region.

The lower entry cost of MotoGP will also boost second-tier cities nearby Malaysia, allowing them to host the event as well.

Being an avid motorsports fan, won't it be awesome to be able to literally follow your favourite team as they travel?

Indonesia is already building a circuit in Palembang where MotoGP will be racing there by 2019. And Thailand will host the MotoGP from next year onwards in Buriram, just north of Bangkok.

These cities have been made possible to host events such as the MotoGP because of the lower entry cost. And travelling around Southeast Asia is relatively cheap, even for Southeast Asians.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said about F1. Besides travelling to Singapore and perhaps Australia and Japan for some lucky few, F1 fans here won't be able to go far.

So, farewell Formula One! And hello, MotoGP!

READ: Malaysian fans hope F1 will make a return