After a nine-year absence, Formula 1 returns to the hugely popular Sepang International Circuit as Malaysia hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix. Bahrain were unable to stage their race in April at their own Sakhir track owing to the conflict in the Middle East but a deal was struck for Malaysia to stage the event instead. Malaysia last hosted a race in 2017, won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, with the fast, flowing Sepang circuit considered one of the very best of the newer generation of tracks.

It stages the second leg of the season's first flyaway triple header after George Russell got his title hopes back on track with victory by less than two tenths from Verstappen last time out in Baku. Kimi Antonelli limited the damage with fifth after crashing in qualifying but saw his lead cut to 66 points with eight rounds remaining, while Lewis Hamilton is 103 points adrift and Lando Norris is 116 points back, but McLaren are expected to be strong at the high-speed Sepang International Circuit. Malaysia is seven hours ahead of the UK but the scheduling of the key sessions at Sepang means convenient weekend breakfast-time viewing on Sky Sports F1 with Qualifying at 9am on Saturday and the Grand Prix at 8am on Sunday.