How Bahrain transplanted its F1 paddock onto Malaysia

When the odds of recovering the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix started looking bleaker and bleaker as the Iran conflict lingered on, Formula 1 came up with a creative solution. A Bahrain Grand Prix hosted 6,000km away in Malaysia.

Rather than Malaysia directly replacing Bahrain on the revised calendar, organisers instead transplanted their entire event on a new host track, working with the Malaysian government, Sepang officials and F1 management to put on race weekend that looks and feels like a Bahrain Grand Prix, with the Bahrain promoter understood to be covering the majority of the original sanctioning fee.

With just two months to prepare for the event following the official announcement, the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia threw up various logistical challenges as Bahraini officials aimed to bring their paddock experience to Kuala Lumpur, which involved two Gulf Air charters flights with paddock furniture, catering equipment and over 500 marshals and other workers and officials.

"When I got the call from His Royal Highness saying that the Gulf Bahrain Grand Prix is happening this year, but it's going to happen in Malaysia, I had to think about it for a minute," Bahrain GP CEO Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa told Autosport on Saturday from his makeshift Sepang office.

"But then I thought it does make sense. People maybe don't realise it, but the relationship between Malaysia and Bahrain has been very strong for decades, and it's a beautiful track.

"The first thing was the FIA Grade 1 licence. And they obtained it in March, so that helped. And then you basically think: 'What is the Bahrain Grand Prix? How do we make people feel that from the minute you land, which is what we do in Bahrain?'

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images

"We started with the same people who greet and assist teams at the airport. For example, Ferrari will have met the same guy they would also see in Bahrain. And then once you arrive here, how do you transform the paddock? We basically moved everything; our furniture, our chairs, the paddock barbecue on Wednesday. We flew our chefs in early to let them get used to the kitchen equipment here. There was a special reception for His Royal Highness and Prime Minister.

"We are thankful to Formula 1 and Malaysia for allowing us to do this one-off event, and to the fans as well. For us to bring this event and get over 100,000 ticket sales, including 50,000 from outside Malaysia, is a big surprise to me personally. But it is a great thing. I thought it would be 70% Malaysian and 30% from abroad."

That success has come at a cost, though. While paddock dwellers were enjoying Bahraini hospitality, the event's ticket holders were not quite as fortunate.

On Friday, reports from fans soon surfaced on social media of massive queues at the circuit's various concession stands in the searing heat, compounded by a lack of drinking water and issues getting in and out of the circuit.

Salman was not shying away from the issues, with his team and their Malaysian counterparts putting plans in pace to make Saturday run smoother. But he did admit organisers underestimated the impact of the number of attendees, with the roughly 70,000 fans watching Friday practice dwarfing the number Bahrain usually gets, as well as the modest number of fans last attending F1's Malaysia Grand Prix a decade ago.

"We kind of shocked the infrastructure," he admitted. "We are dealing with things and numbers that are new to us. Even the team from Bahrain is not used to 70,000 coming in on the road networks. On Friday we had issues. Saturday it was a lot better, and we have to just work on that day by day. We had a lot of meetings, and I think it was mainly an understanding of how early on you need to plan this."

Fan waves Malaysian flag

Photo by: Colin McMaster / LAT Images via Getty Images

Having a limited amount of time to plan a one-off event at a foreign venue did not help matters, but Salman was satisfied with the cooperation between the two parties.

"The toughest [challenge] is working with a new team with just two months to build the trust and also do it in a nice way," he explained. "You don't want to come and take over their track. You have to be humble about it. They have to be supportive. They have to be part of it. The chief executive and the chairman have been amazing. These guys worked so hard. Hopefully we get to the chequered flag on Sunday."

While not being able to host its race at Sakhir was not exactly what Bahraini officials had in mind at the start of 2026, they are trying to view diverting to Kuala Lumpur as an unexpected opportunity to promote both the race and the country in a different market as ticket sales for the 2027 grand prix get under way.

"We opened up our race to South Asian markets," said Salman. "Not just Malaysia, but also Thailand and the Philippines. I think that was a surprise. That helped, and now we're looking forward to 2027. We started our ticket sales. Hopefully we bring this market with us."

The best way to do so is to ensure race day is a smooth experience for fans, which is now becoming priority number one as up to 100,000 fans are expected on Sunday.

"Once everything's over, you have 100,000 people leaving. That's something that we need to work on," Salman added. "To be fair, the government has been very supportive. They're helping, and we'll get there."