Why did F1 stop racing in Malaysia?

Nineteen years at Sepang

The Sepang International Circuit, next to Kuala Lumpur's airport, joined the calendar in 1999 and held the Malaysian Grand Prix every year until 2017. It brought F1 to Southeast Asia nine years before Singapore's night race.

1. 1999

   The first Malaysian Grand Prix. Eddie Irvine won for Ferrari, with Michael Schumacher second.

2. 2013

   Sebastian Vettel ignored a Red Bull order to stay behind Mark Webber, and won. "Multi 21", the code for that order, became F1 shorthand for defying your team.

3. 2016

   Lewis Hamilton's engine failed while he was leading, a heavy blow in his title fight with Nico Rosberg.

4. 2017

   Max Verstappen won the last Malaysian Grand Prix, the day after his 20th birthday.

Why Malaysia dropped it

The decision came from Malaysia, not from F1. By 2016 the race was costing the government about RM300 million a year, and fewer people were coming. "We are not even making back RM300 million," Tourism Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz said in November 2016, confirming the race would end when its contract ran out in 2018, Malay Mail reports.

In April 2017 the government brought the end forward by a year. Formula 1 and the circuit announced together that the 2017 race would be the last.

The region didn't need Malaysia the way it had in 1999, either. Singapore's night race, a short flight away, had been on the calendar since 2008.

What Sepang did next

Sepang kept MotoGP. The Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix has run there every year, and in 2025 it drew a record 190,977 people. In April 2026 the Cabinet renewed the deal through 2031, according to MotoGP.

F1's surprise return in 2026

Then F1 came back, sooner than anyone expected. The 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix couldn't go ahead in April because of the war in the Middle East. Rather than lose it, F1, the FIA and the governments of Bahrain and Malaysia agreed to run it at Sepang from 2 to 4 October, still as the Bahrain Grand Prix. Bahrain kept the ticket money, and its airline stayed the title sponsor.

It rained, as it so often does at Sepang. A downpour and then a technical problem with several cars held up the start, and Max Verstappen won ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton. The same driver had won the last Malaysian Grand Prix nine years earlier.

Will F1 come back to Malaysia for good?

It's on the table. On the grid that day, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told Sky's Martin Brundle, "We're discussing." On 26 October, Sepang's chief executive Azhan Shafriman Hanif said the circuit was preparing a feasibility study and would put a proposal to the Cabinet in November. He called the chances 50-50.

Cost is still the obstacle. In August 2025 he'd said that dropping F1 was a mistake, but put the price of a return at more than RM300 million a year: a hosting fee of about US$70 million plus RM10 to 20 million in setup. That's the same sum that ended the race in 2017.