What it was really like at Sepang: a roaring crowd, a great race and a long way home

F1’s return to Sepang was two events at once. On track, it was one of the races of the season, in front of the biggest crowd the circuit has ever seen. Off track, getting in, staying cool and getting home was hard work. Here is what it was like.

A record crowd

The weekend sold out, and 261,000 people came through the gates over three days, including 103,000 on race day. That beat Sepang’s previous record of 126,690 from 2008. The main grandstand alone held 35,000.

When the race finally got going, the noise was something else. Nine years of waiting came out all at once.

Ninety-three minutes in the rain

Heavy rain pushed the start back from 15:00 to 16:33. Then the cars crawled and stopped on the formation laps, and the start was called off while the FIA fixed a software problem.

It could have killed the mood. It did not. The crowd stayed in good spirits through the whole wait.

The race changed everything

Whatever the frustrations of the weekend, the race made up for a lot of it. Max Verstappen won from pole in tricky, changing conditions. Lewis Hamilton dropped to 18th after a strategy gamble and fought all the way back to third. Safety cars bunched the field and kept everyone guessing to the end.

By the chequered flag, the queues and the waiting had been forgotten, for a while at least.

Kimi Antonelli congratulates Max Verstappen in parc fermé. Photo: Behind the Paddock

The heat and the queues

Sepang in October is hot and humid, and the queues were long everywhere: at the gates, for food and above all for water. Plastic water bottles were banned at the entrance, and that one rule made everything harder. With no water of their own, fans had to rely on the refill fountains. From what we saw, the queues there stretched to two hours, and at one point the fountains ran out of water altogether. There were reports of 50 ambulances being sent into the circuit on Friday alone for people who had collapsed in the heat.

The concerts that did not land

The weekend’s concerts were meant to be a highlight. They were not. Saturday’s Axwell show cost extra on top of a race ticket, and after a full day of queuing in the heat, few people had the energy or the money for it. From what we saw, only around 50 people turned up. Martin Garrix on Sunday did better, with an estimated 300 to 400, but it still felt flat for an event of this size. Videos shared on social media showed staff handing out free tickets for Sunday’s show.

Getting home

This was the hardest part of the weekend. The traffic leaving the circuit was terrible, and the reports from around the circuit tell the same story:

• Shuttles stopped without warning after sessions.
• Grab and Bolt were kept out of a zone around the circuit.
• Some fans reportedly walked up to 11 km home, many along the motorway’s hard shoulder.
• On Sunday, some fans who left early still took 10 to 11 hours to reach their hotels.

To be fair, the shuttles did improve as the weekend went on.

A surprise: Bahrain ran everything

One thing many fans did not realise: this was not run by Sepang. Bahrain’s organisers ran every part of the event, right down to the traffic, with only eight weeks between the announcement and the race. Sepang provided the venue. The crowd management, transport and fan facilities were Bahrain’s.

That explains a lot. Sepang’s own team runs the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix every year and knows how to move big crowds in and out of the circuit.

Tips if F1 comes back

• Bring a refillable bottle, and drink plenty before you arrive.
• Plan your way home before you go, and agree a backup with your group.
• Pack for rain and sun: a poncho, a hat and sunscreen.
• Leave a little early, or wait for the crowds to clear. The rush straight after the last session is the worst time to move.

Our take

The fans did their part: they sold the place out, sat through the rain and roared the cars home. If Malaysia wants F1 back for good, the event has to match them. That means a proper transport plan, letting fans bring their own water and providing far more of it, more shade, and a Malaysian team running it that knows Sepang.