Why Is The F1 Bahrain Grand Prix 2026 Being Held In Sepang, Malaysia?

When did F1 last race at Sepang?Will it count as a Bahrain Grand Prix win?Formula One's upcoming race has a naming googly, to say in the least. The Race is named Bahrain Grand Prix, but it'll be held thousands of miles away, in Malaysia. You don't really need a geography degree to spot the mismatch.

Why is this happening? It all boils down to global politics and costs of hosting a race. Here's how.

The race is officially being called the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, and it takes place on Oct. 4, between the events in Baku and Singapore. Sure, the name sounds like a gag. Wait till you realise that the race will carry the flags of both Bahrain and Malaysia. The winner will go into the official record books as a winner of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

This race will mark the surprise return of Sepang, a hugely popular circuit that last hosted a race in 2017 after 18 years (cue emotional last time when Formula One raced in Malaysia posts).

The cancellations are a by-product of ongoing hostilities in the Middle East, which were triggered by a wave of attacks launched on Iran by the United States and Israel in March. Iran responded by striking a number of countries in the region, among them Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Manama was hit only weeks after hosting preseason testing.

The FIA therefore cancelled two back-to-back races in the Middle East: the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 12 and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah on April 19. This left a four-week hole in the calendar between the Japanese Grand Prix and the Miami Grand Prix. At the time, the FIA maintained that the races could return later in the year if the situation in the region cooled. Which, of course, it didn't.

Geopolitically, Malaysia and Bahrain have shared a close diplomatic relationship since 1974. Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Malaysia's King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar reportedly enjoy a strong personal rapport, and it is believed that the plan for Malaysia to help Bahrain out started in a conversation between the pair.

And so it went: Bahrain had a race to reschedule, and Malaysia had a beloved circuit sitting free. Malaysia offered to split the cost, which let both countries mark their diplomatic ties. Bahrain gets to say it kept its grand prix on the 2026 calendar, and Sepang gets the goodwill of rescuing Formula 1 in an hour of need.

So why not cancel Bahrain this year altogether? Simple. Bahrain has been invested in F1 for a long time. It first hosted a race in 2004 and became a calendar mainstay, frequently as the season opener and a reliable preseason test venue. The nation is also tied into the sport through Mumtalakat Holding Company, its sovereign wealth fund, which is the majority owner of the McLaren team and the full owner of the wider McLaren Group. Even if a race in Saudi gets cancelled, a Bahrain race can't.

Besides, the sport's commercial agreement with its eleven teams and its global broadcasters says the season cannot drop below 22 races, and breaching that would carry a severe financial cost. With Bahrain and Saudi Arabia already cancelled, and Qatar and Abu Dhabi both likely to follow at season's end, F1 needed two replacements in short order. Malaysia became replacement number one.

Sepang had hosted Formula 1 for 18 years, from 1999 to 2017. Drivers loved its fast, flowing corners, and it offered plenty of places to overtake. The only problem was that the sport was not as popular back then, and the money needed to organise a race was humongous. By collaborating on this race (and splitting costs in the process) Malaysia is testing grounds for a proper return to the F1 calendar.