Round 16 of 23 · Sepang International Circuit · October 2–4, 2026
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| Session | Eastern | Central | Mountain | Pacific |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Fri, Oct 2, 12:30 AM EDT | Thu, Oct 1, 11:30 PM CDT | Thu, Oct 1, 10:30 PM MDT | Thu, Oct 1, 9:30 PM PDT |
| Practice 2 | Fri, Oct 2, 4:00 AM EDT | Fri, Oct 2, 3:00 AM CDT | Fri, Oct 2, 2:00 AM MDT | Fri, Oct 2, 1:00 AM PDT |
| Practice 3 | Sat, Oct 3, 12:30 AM EDT | Fri, Oct 2, 11:30 PM CDT | Fri, Oct 2, 10:30 PM MDT | Fri, Oct 2, 9:30 PM PDT |
| Qualifying | Sat, Oct 3, 4:00 AM EDT | Sat, Oct 3, 3:00 AM CDT | Sat, Oct 3, 2:00 AM MDT | Sat, Oct 3, 1:00 AM PDT |
| Race | Sun, Oct 4, 3:00 AM EDT | Sun, Oct 4, 2:00 AM CDT | Sun, Oct 4, 1:00 AM MDT | Sun, Oct 4, 12:00 AM PDT |
Forecast at each session's start time in Sepang, from Open-Meteo. Appears once the weekend is within forecast range.
The strangest entry on the 2026 calendar: the Bahrain Grand Prix, held in Malaysia. Cancelled from its April date because of the conflict in the Middle East, the race was reinstated mid-season and relocated to the Sepang International Circuit outside Kuala Lumpur — Formula 1's first visit to the beloved Hermann Tilke-designed track since 2017. Sepang's pair of huge straights, sweeping double-apex corners, and near-guaranteed tropical thunderstorms made it a fan favorite for two decades, and the whole grid arrives with no modern data on it.
Sepang was Hermann Tilke's first Formula 1 circuit, and many still consider it his best: two enormous straights split by a tight hairpin, a pair of long double-apex corners (Turns 5-6 and the famous final Turn 15) that punish understeer, and enough width that three-abreast racing into Turn 1 is genuinely possible. The layout rewards a car that is balanced through fast changes of direction but stable under the two biggest braking events on the lap — a setup compromise the all-new 2026 machines have never had to solve here.
Then there's the weather. Sepang sits eight degrees off the equator, and mid-afternoon tropical thunderstorms are close to a scheduled event — several past races were red-flagged or flipped by rain arriving mid-stint. Combine a 3 PM local start, 2026 cars with no historical data at the track, and tires under near-Singapore heat stress, and this reinstated race may be the biggest wildcard of the season's closing stretch.
This weekend is a calendar oddity years in the making: the Bahrain Grand Prix, cancelled from its April slot because of the conflict in the Middle East, reinstated in October at Sepang — with Malaysia hosting under the Bahrain name by agreement between F1, the FIA, and both governments. It is Formula 1's first race at Sepang since 2017, ending a nine-year absence from a circuit that hosted 19 Grands Prix between 1999 and 2017 and delivered classics like Vettel's shock 2015 Ferrari win and the Hamilton engine failure that swung the 2016 title.
An overnighter for US fans: the race starts at 3 AM Eastern / midnight Pacific on Sunday morning, sandwiched between Baku and Singapore in a triple-header. Record it or set the alarm — a returning classic circuit plus 2026 cars nobody has raced there is a genuine curiosity, and Sepang's afternoon storm clouds have upended more than a few races.
The 3 PM Sunday start in Malaysia lands at 3 AM Eastern / midnight Pacific — one of only a handful of true overnighters in the second half of the season, so plan to record it or make it a very late West Coast night. If you record, the usual Baku rule applies: stay off social media, because between the storms and the field's total lack of Sepang data, this one has upset written all over it.
The race starts Sunday, October 4 at 3:00 AM EDT. That's 2:00 AM CDT Central, 1:00 AM MDT Mountain, and 12:00 AM PDT Pacific.
No, it uses the standard format: three practice sessions, qualifying (Saturday, October 3 at 4:00 AM EDT), and the Grand Prix.
56 laps of the 5.543 km Sepang International Circuit, a race distance of about 310 km.
The race was cancelled from its original April 2026 date in Bahrain due to the conflict in the Middle East. Formula 1, the FIA, and the governments of Bahrain and Malaysia agreed to reinstate it at the Sepang International Circuit on October 2-4, keeping the Bahrain Grand Prix name. It is F1's first race at Sepang since the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix.
New to Formula 1 or planning your viewing weekend? Read our guides to watching F1 in the US, how a race weekend works, and why F1 start times vary.