Formula 1 Returns to Sepang After Nine Years
Formula 1 is coming back to Malaysia. On 26 July 2026, Formula 1 and the FIA confirmed that Sepang International Circuit will host this season's Bahrain Grand Prix, run under the name Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. It is the first F1 world championship round on Malaysian soil since 2017, and it arrives roughly two months from the announcement.
That single decision explains the surge of Malaysian searches for F1 tickets, Sepang and Bahrain over the past few days. Here is what is confirmed, what is not, and the more interesting question underneath it all: how Malaysia lost this race in the first place while Singapore built a fixture out of it.
When Is the Race?
The race weekend runs from Friday 2 October to Sunday 4 October 2026, with the grand prix itself on Sunday 4 October. It slots into the calendar between the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 26 September and the Singapore Grand Prix on 11 October — meaning Southeast Asia hosts back-to-back races a week apart.
Exact session times for practice, qualifying and the race start have not yet been published by Formula 1 or the FIA. Historically the Malaysian Grand Prix started at 15:00 local time, and a mid-afternoon local start is the most likely shape given European broadcast windows, but nothing is official until the timetable is released. Ticketing details are in the same position: the announcement confirmed only that information "will be announced soon."
Treat any site currently selling a seat with a confirmed start time as one to verify against the official Sepang and Formula 1 channels before paying.
Why Is It Called the Bahrain Grand Prix?
Because it still is the Bahrain Grand Prix — just relocated. The race was originally set for 12 April at the Bahrain International Circuit, but it and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix were postponed on 14 March after the outbreak of the 2026 Iran war, with the FIA citing the safety of personnel as regional tensions escalated.
Formula 1 spent months looking for a way to reinstate the round. A Gulf date in early October was floated, then ruled out as hostilities resumed. Under an agreement between Formula 1, the FIA and the governments of Bahrain and Malaysia, the race was moved to Sepang while keeping the Bahraini name and title sponsor. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was not reinstated.
The financial detail is the important one for Malaysia: Bahrain is covering the hosting costs. Malaysia gets a world championship round without paying the fee that drove it off the calendar — which is precisely why this became possible at all.
Why Malaysia Lost F1 — and Singapore Didn't
Sepang hosted the Malaysian Grand Prix from 1999 to 2017. It was the first of the modern Hermann Tilke-designed circuits, built to announce Malaysia as a destination, and for a decade it worked. Then the arithmetic turned.
The fee outgrew the return. By the end, Malaysia was spending in the region of RM300 million a year — around US$71 million — to stage the race, and was not recovering it. Sepang's then-chief executive Razlan Razali was unusually blunt about the sporting product too, saying it was "no longer exciting" and "being dominated by one team." Attendance had been sliding for years. In 2016 the government confirmed the race would end, and 2017 was the last one.
Singapore was eating the same audience. Sepang's own leadership cited the rise of the Singapore Grand Prix as a factor. A regional fan with one F1 trip in their budget was choosing a night race through a city centre over a daytime race at a circuit 45 minutes from Kuala Lumpur, in equatorial heat and monsoon rain.
The two countries were buying different things. This is the part that gets missed. Malaysia bought a motor race. Singapore bought a tourism campaign that happens to contain a motor race — and measures it as one. Since 2008 the Singapore Grand Prix has drawn more than 720,000 international visitors and generated over S$2.2 billion in incremental tourism receipts. The government co-funds up to 60% of approved costs, on a race that runs somewhere between S$135 million and S$140 million a year under the current deal. Singapore is not trying to break even on ticket sales; it is buying hotel nights, restaurant covers, retail spend and four hours of prime-time footage of its skyline. Sepang, a purpose-built circuit surrounded by palm plantation, could never generate that second product no matter how good the racing was.
The timing was brutally unlucky. Malaysia walked away immediately before Liberty Media's takeover transformed F1's commercial appeal, the Netflix-driven audience boom and the sellout crowds that followed. The country exited at the bottom of the market. Sepang's current chief executive, Azhan Shafriman Hanif, has put it plainly: "We let Formula One go and now it is very hard to get it back."
Singapore, by contrast, kept extending. Its current contract — a seven-year deal running to 2028 — is the longest it has signed.
Does This Mean F1 Is Back for Good?
No, and it is worth being clear about that. This is a one-off relocation of another country's race, funded by that country, not a new Malaysian Grand Prix contract.
The obstacles to a permanent return are unchanged. Liberty Media's asking price is reported at around US$70 million a year before local staging costs, and the Malaysian government has declined to fund it, prioritising public spending elsewhere. The calendar is full at 24 races with a queue behind it — Thailand is pushing a reported US$1.2 billion Bangkok street race, with Rwanda and Argentina also bidding. Realistic openings are narrow: Zandvoort leaves after 2026, and Spa rotates off in 2028 and 2030.
Sepang's position is that a return would need corporate money rather than government money. "I'm pretty sure Formula 1 will come back someday, but not now," Azhan has said — adding that private funding makes it "not impossible."
Which makes 4 October a genuine audition. A full grandstand at Sepang is the single most persuasive argument Malaysia can put in front of Liberty Media.
Two Races, One Week: Sepang and Singapore
The calendar has handed regional fans something unusual — Sepang on 4 October, Marina Bay on 11 October. For anyone considering both, Singapore's prices are already published, and they are a useful yardstick for what Sepang tickets may look like. Ringgit figures below are approximate, at roughly RM3.30 to the Singapore dollar at the time of writing.
| Singapore GP category | 1-day | 3-day | 3-day approx. RM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 4 Walkabout | S$148 | S$548 | ~RM1,810 |
| Premier Walkabout | S$198 | S$728 | ~RM2,400 |
| Stamford Grandstand | S$198 | S$608 | ~RM2,010 |
| Padang / Connaught / Empress Grandstand | S$248 | S$738 | ~RM2,435 |
| Republic Grandstand | — | S$988 | ~RM3,260 |
| Raffles Grandstand | — | S$1,208 | ~RM3,985 |
| Bayfront Grandstand | — | S$1,428 | ~RM4,710 |
| Pit Grandstand | S$598 | S$1,798 | ~RM5,935 |
| Super Pit Grandstand | — | S$2,498 | ~RM8,245 |
Singapore also runs a sprint format in 2026, adding a full race on Saturday. Note the spread: the cheapest walkabout and the most expensive grandstand at the same event differ by roughly seventeen times — which is why an "average F1 ticket price" is a nearly meaningless figure. Budget by tier instead: general admission for a day, a three-day grandstand seat, or a premium main-straight package.
Sepang has historically priced well below Singapore, being a permanent circuit rather than a street course built through a financial district, and this year it has no hosting fee to recover. That points to a cheaper ticket than Marina Bay — but until the official on-sale, it is an expectation, not a price.
Sepang's Other Race: MotoGP
The circuit never went dark. The Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix remains a fixture, scheduled for 30 October to 1 November 2026, four weeks after the F1 round. Sepang also holds MotoGP pre-season testing, usually open to spectators at a fraction of race-weekend pricing. Between them, Malaysian fans have three world championship weekends at the same venue within five weeks.
Quick Answers
When is the F1 race in Malaysia? Sunday 4 October 2026, with the weekend running 2–4 October at Sepang International Circuit.
What time does it start? Not yet announced. F1 and the FIA have confirmed the dates but not the session timetable.
Why is it called the Bahrain Grand Prix? It is Bahrain's postponed race, relocated to Sepang and funded by Bahrain, keeping its original name.
Are tickets on sale? Not yet. Ticketing information is due to be announced; buy only through official Sepang or Formula 1 channels.
Why did Malaysia stop hosting F1? A hosting bill of roughly RM300 million a year with falling attendance and no clear return, plus competition from the Singapore Grand Prix. The last Malaysian GP was in 2017.
Is Malaysia back on the calendar permanently? No. This is a one-off replacement round. A permanent return would need roughly US$70 million a year in fees that the government has declined to fund.
Quinn Santos
Quinn Santos covers Formula 1 with a reverent, forensic attention to the physical and acoustic life of the race. In reports, engine notes are not background noise but specific orchestral intervals moving through the grid, and every race devotes space to the degraded texture of tire compounds after a stint, read like worn material rather than performance data. Chassis geometry and floor aerodynamics are explained through architectural metaphor: load paths become load-bearing walls, floors become tensioned skins. Quinn avoids standard telemetry charts, instead reconstructing key overtakes through rhythmic, beat-heavy sentence structures that carry braking points and exits like percussion. A reader gets the feeling of the circuit as a built and sounding environment, not a sequence of lap times. Each race recap closes with an unprompted weather report comparing trackside humidity to the driver's sweat output, a small forensic reminder of how much the body and the air are part of the result.
