The error on the F1 app calendar
A mistake in the calendar section of the official F1 app made people believe for a few hours that the Bahrain GP, which as is known this year is held in Malaysia, would take place in the evening taking advantage of the artificial lighting system of the Sepang track. In reality, it was just a mistake, so much so that the race organizers immediately rushed to deny it, explaining that the GP would be held at the traditional daytime schedule. And now the official confirmation of the qualifying and race times has also arrived from the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile.
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What time does the Bahrain GP start in Malaysia
With a post on the official social accounts, the FIA has in fact reminded what the start times of qualifying and race will be in the last 12 events of the season, including the start times of the two Sprint Races yet to be held, in Zandvoort and Singapore. Among these races, however, there is also the Sepang GP and, therefore, the news is effectively the official confirmation of the daytime start time of the race that was supposed to be held in Sakhir. According to the Federation’s post, therefore, the 2026 Bahrain GP, taking place on the weekend of next October 4 to complete an unprecedented Asian triple with Baku and nearby Singapore, will run at 3:00 PM local time, with qualifying scheduled for 4:00 PM.
For time zone reasons, the session times are a bit less convenient, though not prohibitive, for European spectators: Italy is – due to the daylight saving time currently in effect, which is not observed in Malaysia – six hours behind Kuala Lumpur. This means that qualifying will start at 10:00 AM on Saturday, October 3, with the race scheduled for 9:00 AM on Sunday, October 4.
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Doubts about the end of the 2026 season
In the schedule update published by the FIA, the two final rounds of the season, between Qatar and Abu Dhabi, are instead regularly in place. However, it is known that if the instability situation in the Persian Gulf should persist, then the two GPs could be canceled to make room for one or two races in Europe, as recently confirmed by Stefano Domenicali: candidates to enter the F1 calendar already in 2026 would in fact be Imola and Portimao.
