Malaysia welcomed Formula One back to Sepang this October for the first time since 2017, hosting the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix after geopolitical tensions in the Gulf forced the original race off the calendar. The weekend drew approximately 261,000 fans, the largest attendance in Sepang’s history, and was projected to generate RM950 million in economic activity. For nine years, Malaysians had watched F1 from afar. This time, they were in the stands. Some of them were also looking at the food menu.
What was on the menu
A photo shared on Threads by @myk3_mash showed nasi goreng cina listed at RM50 per plate. The attendee noted they had eaten the same dish at a mamak the day before for RM7. A separate post by @aimanns confirmed similar pricing across the venue: nasi goreng ayam at RM50, a tuna sandwich at RM30, a drink at RM25. The posts spread quickly and split opinion almost immediately, with one commenter joking that the prices looked like they had been converted from Bahraini dinar.
Some found the pricing hard to accept regardless of the event. One commenter pointed out that affording an F1 ticket did not mean visitors should absorb venue food prices without question. Others compared what RM50 could buy elsewhere and found the value inside Sepang unconvincing.
On the other side, commenters argued that event pricing at an international motorsport race had never been comparable to street food. One described F1 as a sport for high-spending attendees, including international visitors for whom the food prices were a fraction of what they had already spent to be there. Grandstand tickets were already priced in the thousands.
Why Malaysia left and what it cost to come back
Malaysia hosted the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang for 18 consecutive years from 1999, but by the mid-2010s the economics had stopped working. Attendance at the 2017 race drew roughly 55 to 60 percent capacity. The government was spending approximately RM300 million a year in hosting fees while ticket sales, domestic viewership and tourism returns were all falling. When F1’s new owners Liberty Media took over, they drove hosting fees higher as the sport surged in global popularity. Malaysia chose not to renew.
The 2026 race was different. This was not a Malaysian Grand Prix but a relocated Bahrain race, and Bahrain agreed to cover the hosting rights fee of approximately USD 70 to USD 80 million. Malaysia’s only cost was around RM40 million in preparation, which SIC CEO Azhan Shafriman Hanif confirmed was essentially the circuit’s annual maintenance budget. As the Prime Minister put it, Malaysia hosted for free.
Can Malaysia afford to stay on the calendar
The 261,000 fans who turned up have reopened a conversation that was closed in 2017. The appetite is clearly back. But if Malaysia wants a permanent slot on the F1 calendar, it would need to pay a hosting fee that now runs between RM300 million and RM340 million annually, according to figures cited by Caricarz, with no guarantee of recouping that through ticket sales and tourism alone.
As ESPN noted, Bahrain stumped up most if not all of the hosting fee for this year’s event, and without that, there was no chance Sepang could have been a viable option. The fan interest is real but the financial case is another question entirely.
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‘I gave up my family to pursue my dreams’ Shares 34 YO M’sian woman
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