Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin says Malaysia should stop hosting the Formula 1 Grand Prix due to cost considerations.

"I think we should stop hosting the F1. At least for a while.

"Cost too high, returns limited," he said on Twitter.

Khairy added that ticket sales and TV viewership numbers were declining. Foreign visitors also have the choice of spectating the Singapore, China and Bahrain leg of the race.

"When we first held the F1, it was a big deal. We were the first country to do so in Asia outside Japan. Now there are so many venues. No first mover advantage. Not a novelty.

"SIC should bid for less costly races and retain MotoGP which is still popular. Spend on development and increase public access to track days," wrote Khairy.

Earlier today, Sepang International Circuit (SIC) CEO Razlan Razali announced that a decision on whether to continue hosting the race would be made soon.

He said a special meeting with its major stakeholder, the Finance Ministry, would be held on Thursday.

"The F1 ticket sales here have gone down since 2014.

"In contrast, the Malaysia Motorcycle GrandPrix (MotoGP) looks more promising in terms of attracting spectators and its potential spillover effects," he told a press conference today, according to Bernama.

Razlan, however, said he would be in no hurry to issue an official announcement of the discontinuation of F1 in Malaysia as SIC has a "watertight agreement" with the licensed holders until 2018.

"A temporary withdrawal from F1 (after 2018) could be beneficial for the country to take a break. Currently, some say, the product (F1) is no longer exciting as it is being dominated by one team.

"An initial reports for the last F1 race also showed that television viewership in Malaysia was the lowest in history," he said, adding that Singapore's F1 race also reportedly registered a 20 percent drop in ticket sales.

Razlan hinted that SIC would shift its focus to MotoGP.

MotoGP, the world's biggest motorcycling event, was first staged at the Batu Tiga Circuit in Shah Alam in 1991 before shifting to the Pasir Gudang Circuit, Johor, in 1998 while the Sepang Circuit hosted its first MotoGP race in 1999.

This weekend, the Shell Malaysia MotoGP 2016, the 26th Malaysia MotoGP, is set to be another crowd-puller at SIC, following on the heels of last year's sellout silver jubilee race.

"Last year we saw 85,000 spectators for our MotoGP. This year, as all the tickets were already sold out, we target a record 90,000 spectators, inclusive of the hill stands.

"Moving forward, if all parties collaborate, inclusive of the ministries of tourism, sports and communication, we may improve further," he said.