Formula One said on July 26 that the rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix will be held at Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit on October 4, bringing the championship back to Malaysia and filling a gap left by the cancellation of the original Sakhir race earlier in the season.

Al Jazeera reported that the event will carry the official title Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. The race was announced while the series was at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali said the arrangement would preserve a full and compelling schedule for fans while returning the sport to a venue with a long history in grand prix racing.

According to the report, the new plan followed an agreement involving the governments of Malaysia and Bahrain, Formula One and the FIA. The original Bahrain event, along with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah, had been disrupted in April amid the United States-Israel war on Iran and wider instability across the Middle East. By moving the Bahrain round to Sepang, the series restored the calendar to 23 races, though uncertainty remained over whether later events in Qatar and Abu Dhabi would proceed as planned.

Placed on October 4, the race will sit after Baku's September 26 round and before the Singapore weekend on October 11. Sepang last hosted Formula One in 2017 and has since been better known on the international calendar as a MotoGP venue. Its return offers a practical solution for the championship and a symbolic re-entry into a market that once held a regular place on the Formula One schedule.

Al Jazeera noted that there is precedent for one country hosting a race branded for another. It pointed to the Luxembourg Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, the long-running San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, and a Swiss Grand Prix staged in France. Those examples help explain how Formula One can preserve Bahrain's identity on the calendar even while moving the event to another circuit.

The geopolitical backdrop remains part of the story. Bahrain, where the US Navy's Fifth Fleet is based, has faced missile and drone attacks from Iran, and the grand prix is described in the report as the kingdom's biggest annual sporting event. The article also said Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat owns McLaren, underlining the country's broader ties to the sport.

For July 26, the confirmed outcome was clear but not entirely final. Formula One had identified Sepang as the replacement venue and announced a date and title, yet the event still depended on final agreements and approval from the FIA's World Motor Sport Council.