Sepang International Circuit

Motorsport track in Malaysia

Tropical Heat and Two Long Straights

Hermann Tilke's circuit near Kuala Lumpur hosted the Malaysian Grand Prix nineteen times, then was called back in 2026 to stage the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix.

Sepang International Circuit sits about 45 kilometers south of Kuala Lumpur, beside the city's international airport and near Putrajaya, the administrative capital that was rising at the same time as the track, two ambitions under construction side by side. Built between 1997 and 1999 as one of the major infrastructure projects of Mahathir Mohamad's government, it was opened by Mahathir himself on 7 March 1999. Hermann Tilke designed it, and his later commissions would include Sakhir, Shanghai, Istanbul, Yas Marina and Marina Bay.

The Grand Prix layout runs clockwise for 5.543 kilometers, all wide straights and sweeping corners, with an unusual signature: the pit straight and a back straight of almost a kilometer lie side by side, joined only by a single tight hairpin. Elsewhere the lap tips downhill through the opening corners, darts through the quick Genting Curve chicane, hard on tires and drivers alike, and winds through the long double apex of the KLIA curve. The weather writes its own script, swinging from furnace heat to sudden storms with little regard for anyone's race plan.

Eddie Irvine won the first Malaysian Grand Prix for Ferrari in October 1999, and Ferrari went on to win seven times here, more than any other team. Sebastian Vettel's four wins lead the drivers. In 2016 the track was resurfaced and the final corner raised by about a meter to invite new lines. Rising hosting fees and shrinking ticket sales then ended the Malaysian Grand Prix after its nineteenth edition, won by Max Verstappen in 2017. The circuit also holds a sadder memory: the motorcycle racer Marco Simoncelli died after a crash at Turn 11 during the 2011 MotoGP race.

Formula One returned by an unexpected route. When the 2026 Iran war forced the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix planned for April, the race was moved to Sepang and set for 4 October 2026. Until it is run, Sepang's record stands at 19 championship rounds, from 1999 to 2017.

Every Grand Prix here

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