F1 Schedule 2026: Next race moved with new date and location for this weekend

Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, 2026, generic — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Schedule

Next F1 race moved with new date and location for this weekend

All roads lead to Sepang this weekend

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Monday 28 September 2026 17:30

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F1 will return to a familiar circuit of days gone by this weekend with the next race on the 2026 schedule moved to a new date and location.

The Bahrain Grand Prix had originally been slated to take place in Sakhir from April 10-12 inclusive, but it was cancelled due to the onset of the conflict in the Middle East.

With no sign of that conflict easy (on the contrary, things appear to be escalating in recent days) F1 and local organisers took the drastic decision to move the race to a new date and a new location on an entirely different continent.

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Now the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix will take place at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, which of course formerly staged the Malaysian Grand Prix until that race ended in 2017.

Now Sepang is back on the calendar under another race name and the action will take place this weekend as Round 16 of the 2026 World Championship.

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Bahrain Grand Prix Schedule: Sepang start times

The action in Sepang gets under way on Friday October 2 and runs through to the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday October 4. The schedule looks like this (all times UK):

Day	Date	Session	UK Time (BST)
Friday	October 2	Free Practice 1	05:30-06:30
Friday	October 2	Free Practice 2	09:00-10:00
Saturday	October 3	Free Practice 3	05:30-06:30
Saturday	October 3	Qualifying	09:00-10:00
Sunday	October 4	Azerbaijan Grand Prix	08:00-10:00