It’s official – nine years after Malaysia waved goodbye to Formula 1, the world championship is coming back to the Sepang International Circuit, through the most unlikely of routes. Formula 1 and the FIA today confirmed that Sepang will host the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia from October 2-4, 2026, slotting in between the Azerbaijan and Singapore rounds as a replacement for the race that could not be held in Sakhir.
The announcement was made together with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Bahrain’s crown prince and prime minister, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa – the event remains subject to final agreements and World Motor Sport Council approval, and ticketing details will be announced soon.
Yes, you read that right – it won’t be called the Malaysia Grand Prix. More on that below, but with F1 confirmed to return, now is as good a time as any to revisit the 2017 Malaysia GP, the race that was supposed to be our last. Here are 10 facts about that weekend, a refresher on why the race was dropped in the first place, and the story of how a “Bahrain GP” ended up being held over 6,000 km from Bahrain.
10 facts about the 2017 Malaysia Grand Prix
1. Max Verstappen won it the day after his 20th birthday
The Red Bull driver turned 20 on qualifying day, then celebrated by diving past Lewis Hamilton’s pole-sitting Mercedes into Turn 1 on lap four and controlling the race to the flag on October 1, 2017. Remarkably, it was only the second win of his career, following the 2016 Spanish GP – this was long before the world championships started rolling in.
2. It was a Ferrari weekend from hell
Sebastian Vettel arrived 28 points behind Hamilton with the title fight very much alive, only for his engine to let go in final practice. The replacement unit refused to run properly in Q1, leaving him without a lap time and starting dead last. It got worse – Kimi Raikkonen qualified second but never took the start, his car pulled off the grid with a power unit issue before the lights went out.
3. Vettel’s recovery drive set a lap record that still stands
Charging from the back, Vettel carved his way up to fourth and set the fastest lap of 1:34.080 on lap 41 – which remains Sepang’s official F1 race lap record to this day, simply because the series never came back. Come October, the current cars will finally get a crack at it.
4. The most bizarre crash of 2017 happened after the chequered flag
On the cool-down lap, Vettel and Lance Stroll’s Williams made contact, the impact ripping the Ferrari’s left-rear wheel from its mountings. Vettel then famously hitched a ride back to the paddock on the sidepod of Pascal Wehrlein’s Sauber, while Ferrari sweated over possible gearbox damage – and a grid penalty – ahead of Suzuka the following weekend. It escaped without one.
5. Hamilton still left with the spoils that mattered
The Briton took pole with a 1:30.076 and finished second, stretching his championship lead over Vettel from 28 to 34 points. He would wrap up his fourth world title three races later in Mexico.
6. Pierre Gasly made his F1 debut at this race
The Frenchman was drafted in to replace Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso, making Sepang the venue of his grand prix bow. A certain Charles Leclerc also drove in first practice for Sauber that weekend. Both are still on the grid in 2026 – as are Hamilton (now in Ferrari red) and race winner Verstappen – meaning several drivers on this year’s grid will get a Sepang reunion in October.
7. A loose drain cover nearly wrecked the weekend
Second practice was red-flagged when Romain Grosjean crashed heavily at Turn 14 – Valtteri Bottas and Raikkonen had dislodged a drain cover at the preceding corner, and the Haas driver struck it next time through, slicing a rear tyre and spearing him into the barriers. Sound familiar? Errant covers still haunt F1 street and permanent circuits alike today.
8. The race began and ended as a late-season fixture
Sepang’s first two grands prix in 1999 and 2000 were run at the tail end of the season – the 2000 edition was even the title-deciding finale – before the race settled into its familiar early-season slot from 2001 to 2015. For its final two editions in 2016 and 2017, it moved back to October, paired with the Japanese GP.
9. The farewell drew the biggest crowd in years
A total of 110,604 spectators turned up across the 2017 weekend, a healthy jump from 88,828 in 2016, when race day itself attracted just 45,000 people in a venue built for 120,000. Nothing sells tickets quite like announcing the show is closing.
10. It was the 19th F1 Malaysia GP – but the 37th Malaysia Grand Prix overall.
The race’s name long predates Formula 1’s arrival in 1999, with earlier editions held as non-championship events, most notably at Shah Alam’s Batu Tiga circuit. Sepang, incidentally, was the first F1 venue designed from the ground up by Hermann Tilke, whose fingerprints would go on to appear on nearly every new circuit since.
Why the Malaysia GP was dropped
The end was confirmed on April 7, 2017, when then prime minister Najib Razak announced that the cabinet had agreed to stop hosting F1, citing low returns relative to the cost of staging the race. The contract actually ran until 2018, but the plug was pulled a year early in a decision Sepang International Circuit (SIC) described as mutually agreed with Formula One Management.
The numbers made for grim reading. Then tourism and culture minister Nazri Aziz put the annual bill to host and organise the race at around RM300 million (about US$67 million at the time), while ticket sales and TV viewership had been sliding for years.
Singapore’s night race, launched in 2008, had siphoned off much of the regional glamour and corporate spend, while depressed oil prices were squeezing government coffers. MotoGP, by contrast, was selling out at Sepang – so SIC doubled down on two wheels.
The economics never improved. SIC chief executive Azhan Shafriman Hanif has said Liberty Media quoted a hosting fee of around US$70 million (RM296 million) per edition for a comeback, before SIC’s own RM10-20 million in running costs, and as recently as 2024, then youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh said flatly that Malaysia could not afford it.
How a “Bahrain GP” ended up at Sepang
Which brings us to 2026, and a solution nobody saw coming. This season was meant to feature a record 24 rounds, four of them in the Middle East – but the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs, both scheduled for April, were called off after conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran erupted in the region in March. That mattered commercially: according to BBC Sport, F1 needs to stage at least 21 races or risk triggering clauses that could see rights fees returned to broadcasters and sponsors.
Plan A was to reschedule Bahrain, in Bahrain, for October 4. ESPN reported that F1 was ready to announce exactly that earlier this month – right up until Iranian missiles landed in Bahrain, at which point teams were told at Spa that no race in the kingdom would happen this year. Alternatives floated included a second race in Baku, a repeat visit to Las Vegas or Singapore, and Portugal’s Portimao, while Imola is said to be on standby as a season finale should the Qatar and Abu Dhabi rounds also fall through.
Instead, Sepang got the nod – FIA Grade 1 certified, race-ready thanks to MotoGP, and located conveniently a week before the Singapore GP, forming an Asian triple-header with Baku and Marina Bay.
Because Bahrain retains the naming rights – and is reportedly footing the bill – the race will officially run as the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, neatly sidestepping the hosting fee problem that killed the Malaysia GP in the first place. Strange as it sounds, F1 has form here: the San Marino GP was always held at Imola in Italy, and the Nurburgring once hosted the Luxembourg GP.
It all came together at remarkable speed. Motorsport outlet The Race first reported the Sepang option on Thursday, youth and sports minister Dr Mohammed Taufiq Johari confirmed active discussions on Friday, PM Anwar teased an announcement on Saturday – and by Sunday, the deal was done, announced by F1 and the FIA together with the Malaysian PM and Bahrain’s crown prince and prime minister.
In the official release, F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali said the agreement saves a grand prix that would otherwise have been lost from the calendar, and shows once again the sport’s ability to adapt and deliver, thanking the leaders of both countries. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem credited the Motorsports Association of Malaysia and the Malaysian government for making the return possible, while Prince Salman said Bahrain was proud to stand as “a pillar of stability for Formula 1” amid the regional challenges.
PM Anwar, for his part, said the collaboration reflects the close friendship between the two nations and reaffirms Malaysia’s readiness and capability to host major international events. The rest of the 2026 calendar is unchanged, and information on ticket sales will be released soon.
So there you have it – nine years on, that 2017 farewell turns out not to have been goodbye after all. Would you buy tickets to watch a Bahrain GP at Sepang this October? Share your thoughts in the comments.
