Formula 1 returns to Sepang for relocated Bahrain Grand Prix

Formula 1 is scheduled to race at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit this weekend in place of the cancelled 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix, bringing the championship back to the track for the first time since 2017. The event is the 16th round of the season and follows the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races amid conflict in the Middle East. The race is being held in Malaysia under the Bahrain Grand Prix name. Sepang last hosted a Formula 1 event in 2017, the final year of the Malaysian Grand Prix, which had been on the calendar annually since 1999. Bahrain’s round had originally been scheduled for April. Formula 1 confirmed Malaysia as the replacement host in July following an agreement involving Formula 1, the FIA and the governments of Malaysia and Bahrain. Sepang International Circuit chief executive Azhan Shafriman Hanif said the circuit had sold about 95,000 three-day tickets and expected sales to reach 100,000. He said that would be roughly twice the 40,000 to 50,000 tickets sold during the Malaysian Grand Prix’s peak years. The sales estimate is not a final attendance count.