'Paint job' needed for Sepang: Ecclestone

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has backed the Malaysian Grand Prix to continue but said the tired Sepang circuit needed a "paint job", a report said.

Ecclestone said he had "no dramas" with Malaysia's Formula One grand prix, now into its 15th edition, but organisers needed to complete their multi-year refurbishment of the racetrack near Kuala Lumpur.

"They need to finish what they started. It is obviously not the same as Singapore. Maybe because they don't spend the money," he said, according to The Star.

Malaysia joined the Formula One circuit in 1999 but it has been outshone by the glitzy race in neighbouring Singapore, held at night on a street circuit snaking past major landmarks.

Ecclestone, 82, also said organisers needed to attract bigger crowds to Sepang, which is about an hour's drive from the capital.

Malaysia's contract expires in 2015.