Formula 1's next race has an odd quirk. Look at the calendar and you'll see the rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix. The only catch? It is taking place at Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur.
You don't have to be a geography buff to know those two places are not the same, nor are they close on the map. The bizarre event all comes down to global politics and is part of a wider situation that has left the destination of F1's season-ending races -- events in Qatar and Abu Dhabi -- uncertain, too.
Here's everything you need to know about F1's first "Middle Eastern" race of the year, and the current status of the final two races in the region which are meant to close the 2026 season.
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First things first, what are we calling this race?
Amusingly, perhaps slightly farcically, F1's next race will be called the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, held on Oct. 4, sandwiched between events in Baku and Singapore. It means another triple header on the calendar, with the season already due (as it stands) to feature Austin-Mexico City-Brazil, a gap, then Las Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi.
While a slightly ridiculous naming convention, the event does mark a welcome and surprise return for the hugely popular Sepang circuit, which last hosted a race in 2017 after 18 years on the calendar. F1 understands the official flag next to the event will be Bahrain's, and the winner of the race will be considered to be a winner of the Bahrain Grand Prix in F1's official record books.
What national anthem will play before the event?
Exact plans remain to be seen, though sources have told ESPN that pre-race grid plans feature both the Bahrain and Malaysian flags, while Bahrain's national band is also in Malaysia for the event.
What happened to Bahrain's original race?
The decision not to hold races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April was a by-product of ongoing hostilities in the Middle East, triggered by a wave of attacks launched on Iran by the United States and Israel in March. That saw a number of countries in the region struck by Iran in response -- including Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Bahrain's capital Manama was hit just weeks after it had hosted preseason testing.
As a result, F1 cancelled what would have been back-to-back races, the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 12 and Jeddah's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on April 19. That left a four-week gap in the calendar between the Japanese Grand Prix and the Miami Grand Prix without a race. Importantly, at the time F1 made it clear the door was open for both events to happen later in the year should the situation in the region cool down.
Was rescheduling either event a realistic option?
Originally, F1 hoped it might be able to reschedule one or both events if and when the situation in the region cooled. Bahrain naturally was the easier option -- it's a permanent facility and, having hosted preseason and in anticipation of the event that should have taken place in April, some freight remains there which never left the nation state. That meant there was automatically a lot more flexibility around rearranging Bahrain if the opportunity had presented itself. As for Saudi Arabia, that was more complicated -- the Jeddah event is a street circuit around the city, for one thing, and street circuits naturally require a bit more lead-time in terms of preparation.
Sources have told ESPN that while Bahrain were happy to host an event wherever possible, Saudi's organisers had been set on rescheduling their race as a season-ending race. Even without a massive de-escalation in the Middle East, that presented big issues -- the season is already due to finish on Dec. 6 in Abu Dhabi. To avoid an unprecedented four straight races, a Saudi race would likely have needed to be held in the middle of December or nearer Christmas time, which has never happened before. Then there's Abu Dhabi's place as the season-ender -- the UAE venue has been the long-time finale event and pays a premium for the privilege. Sources have told ESPN Abu Dhabi was not thrilled at the idea of letting a regional rival take that from them. All of that is irrelevant now, anyway -- Abu Dhabi and Qatar's races both look set to be cancelled due to the same conflict (more on that below).
Why did Malaysia help Bahrain out?
It might seem like a strange link-up on the surface, but the two nations actually share a close diplomatic relationship stretching back to 1974. Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Malaysia King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar reportedly have a strong personal rapport. Sources have told ESPN the plan was first discussed in a conversation between the pair and a plan quickly unfolded from there. Bahrain had a race to reschedule and Malaysia had a beloved circuit completely free to step in. Malaysia offered to split the cost with Bahrain and it was seen as a win-win -- a good way to mark strong diplomatic ties between the two nations, while Bahrain gets to say it retained its grand prix on the 2026 calendar and Sepang gets the feel-good rub of stepping in and helping Bahrain and Formula 1 out in an hour of need.
Why was Bahrain so keen to hold a race, even if not on its own circuit?
Bahrain has been invested in F1 for a long time now. It first hosted a race in 2004 and has become a mainstay on the calendar, often as the season-opener, as well as becoming a regular and reliable preseason test venue. The nation state is also deeply intertwined with the sport -- Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat Holding Company, is majority owner of the McLaren team and full owner of the wider McLaren Group.
The scale of its involvement in F1 is far deeper than is currently the case in Saudi. But it wasn't just Bahrain that felt a need to get something sorted. The rearrangement is big from a contractual perspective for Formula 1 as well. The sport's commercial agreement with its 11 teams and its global broadcasters says the season cannot drop below 22 races -- should that ever happen, the financial cost for the sport would be severe. Bahrain and Saudi had already both been cancelled -- with Qatar and Abu Dhabi both likely to be canned at the end of the season, the sport effectively needed to find two replacements in quick time. Malaysia and Bahrain doing a deal meant F1 only had to find one race to finish the season with, should those other two events be cancelled as expected. As we will come to, easier options in Europe existed to fill a one-race gap.
What was Sepang like, and why did it stop hosting F1 in the first place?
Sepang enjoyed 18 years as a Formula 1 host between 1999 and 2017 and quickly established itself as a popular venue, with drivers loving its fast, flowing corners, while it boasts numerous places to overtake. Sepang actually was unlucky in the timing of its departure from the calendar -- Formula 1 was in a much less lucrative place at the time.
Liberty Media had only just taken over with a grand plan for the sport's growth, which has come to pass in the years since Covid. In 2017 things were not quite so rosy as they are now -- then-CEO of Sepang, Razlan Razali, told Reuters at the time: "It's hard to sell this kind of event and to get bums on the seats. It's not worth the investment at the moment." Of course, F1 has enjoyed stratospheric growth since the pandemic and most races are easy sellouts, with huge revenues and 11 teams all worth north of $1 billion (£753 million). Hindsight is 20-20, as they say.
Does this one-off return make Malaysia a candidate to host events again in the future?
It's hard to say for now. This event certainly can't hurt, and it's clear the event is in F1's good graces at the moment for stepping in. But it's not simply a case of it being fast-tracked to the front of the line for a future event. F1's calendar is already jam-packed at 24 events -- next year Portugal and Türkiye return, and F1 boss Stefano Domenicali often says there is a queue of potential venues waiting for a spot to open up, with the sport keen to prioritise an event in Africa in future if a viable venue materialises. Then there's Singapore, which may not be thrilled at the prospect of hosting a race so close to a neighbour every year. When Sepang was a regular host, Singapore and Malaysia were often next to each other on the calendar, but rarely just a week apart.
Isn't F1's season finishing in the Middle East as it stands? What about those two races?
As it stands, yes, although it seems likely that will change in the coming weeks after F1 bosses were told that they can expect a final decision by mid-October. The calendar as it stands says Qatar on Nov. 29 and Abu Dhabi on Dec. 6 will close the season, but F1 has been delaying a decision on both events as it monitors the situation in the region and there was hope the events could both go ahead as planned.
The World Endurance Championship, the series which holds the famous Le Mans 24 Hours, has already cancelled a race in Qatar that was due to be held in November. Sources have told ESPN that Italian circuit Imola will hold the season-ending race should Qatar and Abu Dhabi be cancelled. In that scenario, the race would take place on Dec. 6, the existing spot for Abu Dhabi's race. While eyebrows in the paddock have been raised at hosting a race in northern Italy in December, logistically the race presents an easy option, with all 11 teams based in Europe.
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Is Imola really the only option to step in?
Many in F1 have wondered the same thing, but the circuit has only just dropped off the calendar as a grand prix host, so its infrastructure is in place. Weather is far from ideal, with sunlight at a minimum and snow a regular feature, but the circuit has close ties to the sport which probably helped shuffle the historic venue to the front of the line -- it is the hometown of F1 CEO Domenicali and Ferrari's unofficial home race, given its close proximity to Ferrari's Maranello headquarters. Still, others wondered if other venues might be more appropriate.
F1 is due to race in Las Vegas the weekend before Thanksgiving, leaving many to speculate whether F1 could stay in America and race at Austin's Circuit of the Americas (COTA), which is already hosting a race on Oct. 24. However, COTA does not appear to have put itself forward nor does it appear to have been asked by F1 to stand in. Portugal's Portimao circuit was also floated as an option, but stepping in to host an event in December would have threatened the timeline of the renovations and upgrades the venue is doing in order to host a race next season. Imola, which dropped off the calendar after its 2025 race, has therefore emerged as the likely season-ender.