SEPANG (MALAYSIA) - FORMULA One race organisers in Malaysia said they are refurbishing the circuit ahead of competition from neighbouring Singapore, which is bidding to host its own Grand Prix.

Malaysia has held a leg of the F1 series for the past eight years, and has a contract to run the event until 2010.

It is bidding to extend the agreement until 2015, said Mokhzani Mahathir, chairman of the Sepang International Circuit, the organiser of the race.

'The F1 race is going to be the same, no matter where you go. You're going to find the same drivers, the same rules, the same cars,' he said on Monday.

'It's what the host circuit does with the event that makes it a unique experience.'

Malaysia wants to extend its contract because the event gives a US$115 million (S$175 million) annual boost to the economy through increased tourism and retail spending, he said.

Singapore plans to hold its race on a downtown street circuit, similar to the Grand Prix in Monaco.

Malaysia uses the US$80 million Sepang track, 85km from Kuala Lumpur.

Mokhzani, the son of former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, declined to say how much his group would spend on refurbishments.

It decided to renovate after Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One's billionaire chief executive officer, raised concerns about the conditions of the grandstand and the venue's general structure.

Singapore businessman Ong Beng Seng is in talks with Ecclestone for the Singapore event.

The Republic wants the race to help achieve its target of doubling the number of overseas visitors to 17 million annually and triple its spending to S$30 billion by 2015.

The city-state said its race, held on downtown streets, would complement, rather than compete, with the event in Malaysia.

It cited Formula One races in Monaco and Monza, Italy, as well as in Japan's Fuji and Shanghai.

'The possible addition of Singapore to the F1 calendar would not necessarily be at the expense of any of the existing races,' S. Iswaran, Singapore's minister of state for trade and industry, said in Parliament on Tuesday.

'Should Singapore host the F1 Grand Prix, there will be much scope for both countries' events to complement each other.'