The Bahrain GP in Malaysia Watchlist
Get ready for the middle leg of a flyaway triple-header as Formula 1 returns to Sepang with five things you need to know
Published
29 SEP 2026
Est. reading time
3 min
After an eight-year absence, Formula 1 is back at Sepang International Circuit – this time under the banner of the Bahrain Grand Prix, relocated to Malaysia after April's race in Sakhir was cancelled.
Here are five things you need to know about this weekend's event:
A popular return
Sepang was never a circuit that left the calendar quietly, and its comeback has been met with just as much enthusiasm from the paddock as from fans.
11 of the 22 drivers on this year's grid – Carlos among them – raced here the last time Formula 1 visited, back in 2017.
Closer to home
Alex has long had to make do with Singapore as his honorary home race. This weekend gives him something even closer – a Grand Prix in a country that actually shares a border with Thailand, and his first real shot at South East Asian home support on this side of the calendar.
We can’t wait to get trackside and embrace the support that we’re sure will be coming his way at the next two rounds.
Circuit rotation
The Sakhir Tower at the Bahrain International Circuit
This is technically the third different layout to host a Bahrain Grand Prix. There's the traditional Bahrain GP circuit that debuted in 2004, the longer endurance layout used just once in 2010, and now Sepang – roughly 6,000km from home.
And that's before you count 2020's Sakhir GP, run on Bahrain's own outer layout under a different name entirely. It's a rare case of a race travelling further from its namesake than any other on the calendar.
Williams at Sepang
Ralf led a Williams 1-2 over the line in Sepang 24 years ago
Our standout moment in Malaysia came in 2002. Ralf Schumacher went on to win by 39.7 seconds after a first-corner clash promoted him ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya who has qualified second. The Colombian recovered back to second with the fastest lap, securing our first one-two in six years. There were further podiums with Juan Pablo in 2004 and Nick Heidfeld in 2005, and we scored points in each of the final four Malaysian Grands Prix, doing so with both cars in three of them.
Carlos’s best result here came at just the second Grand Prix of his F1 career, claiming P8 back in 2015 with Toro Rosso.
The heat is real
Expect to see drivers wearing cooling systems throughout the weekend
Expect brutal heat and humidity, ranking among the most physically demanding weekends on the calendar alongside Singapore, which follows it just a week later.
And keep one eye on the skies at all times, tropical downpours here can arrive with almost no warning, dump huge amounts of water in minutes, and clear just as fast – as the sudden, race-altering storms of 2009 and 2012 proved.
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