Sepang is back nine years on: from Verstappen's 2017 win to a Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia

On 4 October Formula 1 returns to Sepang for the first time since 2017, and it returns under a borrowed name: the race is the Bahrain Grand Prix, because the one at Sakhir was cancelled by the war and in July it was agreed to run it in Malaysia. We went through the 19 editions held there between 1999 and 2017, and above all the last one, because the grid arriving now looks very little like the one that left.

Why a Bahrain Grand Prix is held in Malaysia

The Iran war began on 28 February with strikes by Israel and the United States, and the Iranian response hit military bases in several Gulf countries, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia among them. Both races in the region were cancelled in March: Bahrain had been due on 12 April.

On 26 July, Formula 1 and the FIA confirmed that Sepang would host the Bahrain Grand Prix from 2 to 4 October, officially the «Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia». The slot is no accident: it sits between Baku and Singapore, and Sepang is about 320 kilometres from Singapore, so the teams chain three races without a logistical detour.

The last time: 1 October 2017

Hamilton started from pole and arrived leading the championship with Mercedes. The winner was Max Verstappen, who started third and had turned 20 the day before. This is how the top six finished:

The comeback of the day was Vettel's: he started 20th, last on the grid, and finished 4th. His team-mate Räikkönen did not even take the start because of a battery failure. Even so, the championship barely moved: Hamilton left Malaysia on 281 points and Vettel on 247, a gap of 34 that Hamilton turned into his fourth title three races later.

And in 14th place was a debutant: Pierre Gasly, with Toro Rosso, was racing his first Formula 1 Grand Prix that day.

Ten drivers from that grid are still racing

Nine years later, these are the drivers who were at Sepang in 2017 and are on the 2026 grid, with their championship position before this race:

The biggest change is at the top. Hamilton, who took the 2017 title, arrives 3rd and with Ferrari. The leader is Antonelli, on 302 points and 66 clear of Russell, and on 1 October 2017 he was eleven years old.

Nineteen years of Sepang

Sepang was the first circuit in Southeast Asia built to host Formula 1 and stayed on the calendar without a break from 1999 to 2017. These are all its winners and the grid slot they started from:

Sebastian Vettel won there more than anyone, 4 times, ahead of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso with 3 each. Two editions stand out. In 2009 the race was stopped on lap 31 of 56 and, as less than 75% of the distance had been covered, half points were awarded: Button won and took five. And in 2012 Alonso won from 8th with Ferrari, with Sergio Pérez second from 9th in a Sauber.

How much is pole worth at Sepang?

In reality, the usual amount. Across its 19 editions the pole-sitter won 9 times, 47%. Across every race of the same years, 1999 to 2017, pole won 172 of 346: 50%. Sepang sits right on the average.

Our engine does treat it as a circuit where the start matters little. When we calibrated how much each grid slot is worth against real races from 2014 to 2025, Sepang came out 3rd of 30 circuits with the lowest weight (14.9), behind only Las Vegas and Paul Ricard; Monaco, at the other end, is 35.7. Read it carefully, because only four Sepang races go into that calibration, 2014 to 2017. Why it matters and how it is measured is in how much starting first is worth.

We will publish the race preview after qualifying, with the official grid including its penalties, and the checked result afterwards, like the others on the Grands Prix panel. If you want to get ahead of it, What If lets you run a race at Sepang with any grid you choose.