Yeah, you read that right. Formula 1 is heading back to Sepang this weekend, but the race is officially called the Bahrain Grand Prix. It’s easily the weirdest name on the 2026 calendar, so here’s everything you need to know before lights out.
Wait, why is Bahrain in Malaysia?
Quick backstory. The Bahrain Grand Prix was originally set for 12 April at the Bahrain International Circuit, but it and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix were cancelled after the 2026 Iran war broke out. Instead of binning the round completely, F1, the FIA and the governments of Bahrain and Malaysia agreed to move it to Sepang while keeping the Bahrain name, with Bahrain holding on to ticket pricing rights and race proceeds.
The funny part? Only a year ago this looked dead in the water. In August 2025, Malaysia’s then sports minister Hannah Yeoh said there were no immediate plans to bring the race back, pointing to a hosting fee of around 300 million ringgit (roughly 73 million USD). Turns out all it took was someone else footing the bill.
Date and session times
The weekend runs Friday 2 October to Sunday 4 October, and there’s no sprint this time, so we get the classic format. All times are local (UTC+8):
FP1 is Friday at 12:30 and FP2 follows at 16:00. FP3 is Saturday at 12:30, with qualifying at 16:00. The race starts Sunday 4 October at 15:00 and runs 56 laps.
For fans in Europe on summer time, that’s a 9:00 AM start on Sunday. Coffee, sofa, sorted. In the UK it’s 8:00 AM, and on the US East Coast you’re looking at 3:00 AM, so good luck with that.
The track: numbers and nerdy stuff
Sepang is 5.543 km long, and the full race distance is 310.398 km. It was the first track Hermann Tilke designed from scratch, and it basically set the template for a whole generation of modern circuits: big wide corners, two monster straights split by a tight hairpin, and grandstands shaped like leaves.
A few things worth knowing:
It’s hot and it’s sticky. Drivers can drop a couple of kilos of sweat over a race here, and the humidity is brutal on both bodies and cooling systems. On top of that, the afternoon storms are no joke. The 2009 race got red flagged in a monsoon and only half points were handed out, which still gets brought up every time rain hits Sepang.
Tyres are right in the middle of the range. Pirelli picked the C2, C3 and C4 compounds as hard, medium and soft. Expect degradation to be a real headache in that heat.
This will be a big step into the unknown for the 2026 cars. Nobody has raced these machines at Sepang, and teams have old data to go off, but no one will really know how the cars perform until Friday practice.
Interesting facts about Sepang
This will be the circuit’s 20th F1 Grand Prix and the first race here since the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel is the king of this place with four wins, but among current drivers Fernando Alonso has the bragging rights with three Malaysian victories. Max Verstappen won the last one back in 2017, just a day after turning 20.
Oh, and the 2013 race gave us “Multi 21,” the Red Bull team orders drama that people still meme about more than a decade later. Here’s one to make you feel old: championship leader Kimi Antonelli was 11 years old when F1 last raced here.
Championship standings
Mercedes are running the show this year, no doubt about it. Antonelli leads the drivers’ standings on 302 points, 66 clear of teammate George Russell and 103 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in third. In the constructors’ fight, Mercedes sit on 538 points, ahead of Ferrari on 378 and McLaren on 306.
With eight rounds remaining, Russell needs a lot to go his way, but Baku showed it’s not over just yet.
What happened last time out
Russell was absolutely on it in Azerbaijan. He grabbed the first Grand Slam of his career with pole, leading every lap, and fastest lap. It wasn’t easy at the end though. Following a late safety car restart, Russell lost turbo power on the final lap as Verstappen closed in fast, and he held on by just 0.196 seconds. Meanwhile, Antonelli crashed in qualifying, started 16th and fought back to fifth to limit the damage.
Paddock gossip and hot takes
Antonelli isn’t hiding how much Baku stung. He admitted he lacked confidence in the race and drove at about 80 percent the whole time, and now he has promised to “re-establish the order” over Russell this weekend. That’s spicy talk between teammates, so keep your eyes on the Mercedes garage.
There’s some drama further down the grid too. Franco Colapinto brings a five-place grid penalty to Sepang for causing a collision in Azerbaijan, and Lando Norris wasn’t in a forgiving mood, saying drivers should get a one-race ban after their clash. Awkward, since Alpine rewarded Colapinto’s form with a new deal for 2027 just before Monza.
On the silly season front, the big one is Haas. Esteban Ocon has confirmed he’s a free agent for next year, and Rafael Camara has emerged as the frontrunner for his seat. And don’t forget Alonso, whose Aston Martin contract expires at the end of 2026. A good result at a track where he’s won three times could be a nice way to keep everyone guessing.
Our take
This is a triple header crunch. Sepang sits between Baku and the Singapore Grand Prix on 11 October, so teams are running on fumes in the tropical heat. Mercedes should be the favourites, but Verstappen was a tenth away from winning last weekend, and Ferrari love a long straight. If the rain turns up, throw the script out the window.
Either way, it’s great to have F1 back at Sepang, even if the name on the poster says Bahrain. Lights out Sunday at 15:00 local. Don’t miss it.
