Circuits
Round 16 · Bahrain Grand Prix
Sepang International Circuit
Sepang International CircuitKuala Lumpur, Malaysia
5.543 km
Lap length
15
Corners
Clockwise
Direction
—
F1 races held
first running
What makes it different
- Returns to the calendar in 2026 after last hosting a Grand Prix in 2017 - the current grid has very little recent reference data for it.
- Two long straights joined by a hairpin, wrapped around a layout wide enough to take several lines through most corners.
- Tropical afternoon storms are close to a scheduled feature rather than a risk here.
Historic moments
2017 · The last Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang's farewell went to Max Verstappen, who took the lead off pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton early and drove away with the second win of his career. Sebastian Vettel had started last after an engine failure in qualifying and recovered to fourth, then collided with Lance Stroll on the slow-down lap and had to hitch a lift back to the paddock on another driver's car.
2016 · Hamilton's engine explodes while leading
Lewis Hamilton was cruising to what looked like a certain win, well clear of the field with 16 laps left, when his power unit failed catastrophically with flames pouring from the exhaust. It handed Red Bull a Ricciardo-Verstappen one-two and badly dented Hamilton's title bid against teammate Nico Rosberg.
2009 · Red-flagged by a monsoon
A tropical downpour flooded the circuit so fast that the 2009 Malaysian GP was stopped for good after 31 of 56 laps and never restarted. Jenson Button won, but only half points were awarded since the full distance was never run.
Bahrain Grand Prix coverage
No coverage is tagged to the Bahrain Grand Prix yet - stories are matched to a round while the weekend is running, so this fills in from practice onwards.
The Bahrain Grand Prix preview has the session times and what to watch for, and the standings show where the season sits.