F1 Bahrain Grand Prix 2026: Malaysia schedule, start times and TV channel guide

The 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix WILL take place after all this weekend in the unlikeliest of venues - Malaysia.

The Sepang International Circuit - located some 45km south of Kuala Lumpur - returns to F1 action nine years since the Malaysian Grand Prix left the annual calendar.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East saw Bahrain's original April schedule cancelled earlier this year, but now it is back on the 2026 F1 calendar with Malaysia agreeing to stage the event.

This is Round 16 of the 2026 World Championship, with Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes very much on the way to becoming the sport's youngest ever world champion at the tender age of 20. His team are also in complete control of the Constructors' title race.

We have all the detail you need for race weekend in Sepang, with everything from session times to TV details to the latest weather forecast.

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F1 Malaysia schedule: When is the Bahrain Grand Prix?

The action in Sepang gets under way on Friday October 2, running through to the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday October 4. The schedule is as follows:

Practice 1: Friday October 2, 0530 BST

Practice 2: Friday October 2, 0900 BST

Practice 3: Saturday October 3, 0530 BST

Qualifying: Saturday October 3, 0900 BST

Race: Sunday October 4, 0800 BST

How to watch the Bahrain Grand Prix on TV

Sky Sports will carry live coverage of every session from Malaysia, while Channel 4 will broadcast a highlights package after Qualifying on Saturday and after the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

There is fantastic news for US fans meanwhile, with Apple TV making the race completely free to watch live.

Here are the key details for other major territories:

United States: Apple TV

Canada: RDS (French), TSN (English)

Australia: Fox Sports, Foxtel, Kayo, Network Ten

France: Canal+

Italy: Sky Italia

Germany: Sky Deutschland

Spain: DAZN

Circuit guide for Sepang, Malaysia

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Sunday's race will be take place over 56 laps of the 5.543km Sepang International Circuit with a total race distance of 310.398km.

The fastest lap set at the circuit was 1:34:080 by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in 2017 but expect a different story this weekend, that was nine years ago with a very different regulations set and very different cars.

The circuit was designed by F1 architect Hermann Tilke and was considered by many to be one of the sport's most technical circuits before it left the annual calendar.

It features two long straights connected by a tight hairpin and two shorter straights, amid a variety of tight and flowing corners.

Previous F1 winners in Malaysia

The aforementioned Vettel has most victories at Sepang with four in total - three for Red Bull and a single success for Ferrari in 2015. Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso both have three wins each.

Ferrari (with seven wins) leads Red Bull (five victories) as the most successful constructor at the track.

Sepang weather forecast for the Bahrain Grand Prix

The hot and humid climate often delivers rain and storms, and that scenario is very likely to be in play this weekend according to weather forecasts for the area.

Friday is currently forecasting temperatures as high as 33 degrees with an 81 per cent chance of rain and a 19 per cent chance of thunderstorms.

Saturday currently has a 69 per cent chance of rain and an increased 41 per cent chance of thunderstorms.

Rain is even more likely on Sunday with the race having a 90 per cent chance of rain, while thunderstorms have a 26 per cent probability.

Bahrain Grand Prix Odds: Who is favourite for Malaysian win?

The latest race win odds for Sunday at the time of writing are as follows:

• 11/8 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
• 3/1 George Russell (Mercedes)
• 7/1 Lando Norris (McLaren)
• 15/2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull
• 12/1 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
• 12/1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari
• 14/1 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
• 25/1 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)

F1 tyres for Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia

There are three options for teams this weekend - the C2 (hard), C3 (medium) and C4 (soft).

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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