P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our reaction to Malaysia RETURNING to the F1 grid

Episode Date: July 26, 2026

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Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Another one. It is official. Tom Bellingham, Sepang, Malaysia. We've dreamed of this moment. I used to pray for times like these. Yes, I know it's come because of other cancelled races, but I can't believe it.

I never thought we'd race at this track again. No, because everything we ever heard, was that they couldn't do it. The government aren't going to pay for it. Wow. I can't believe. I can't, yeah. This is one of the shocks of the season, to be honest,

that this has returned. I did not expect it one bit. Of course, if you're a long-term listener, you will know that we get the question a lot of, you could have any track returning. It's always. We always say it both of us. Every single time we say Malaysia.

It's a banging track. It's been fantastic for. Formula One have been amazing battles and we've missed it a lot. So a very cool thing, obviously, you know, not the nicest circumstances. Why it's returning, of course, has to be said. But to see Malaysia back on the Formula One calendar as a Formula One fan is a very exciting thing. It really is. If you haven't seen the news, if this is your way of getting the news, it is on October the 4th.

And may I say to the organizers, Screw you, that was my holiday week. Oh, no. Absolutely ridiculous. I was like, oh, yeah, Malaysia's back. October the 4th. Oh, I'm supposed to be abroad. So we'll figure out how I'm going to do that.

But still, so, so excited to have Malaysia back. One thing, and I don't know how we're going to title the podcasts when we get there, is that the race will be presented. as the Bahrain Grand Prix being held in Malaysia. So the understanding is that Bahrain are paying for it to happen in Malaysia. That's the understanding anyway. And so will we be calling it the Bahrain Grand Prix? Probably not.

I mean, we won't. I mean, we won't. They will. I mean, they surely will be calling it. They surely will be. I'm amazed that that is what it's going to be. We've seen this before where the race at Nuremberg Ring was luxem. Grand Prix back in the day and we have seen the odd thing where it's not the official

title but this is very of course unusual and obviously Bahrain it's quite clear that they have because it was heavily rumored before changes in circumstances around the world of course that the barren were trying to get back on the calendar after their earlier cancellation and it was almost yeah seemingly like it was going to to happen and they would return later now it's quite clear that can't happen now. So what's a bizarre situation that it seems like they will essentially

be having the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and that's how we've got Sapang back on the calendar as the Bahrain Grand Prix. I don't think that was on anyone's bingo card. If anybody guessed that, you would be quite literally an Oracle. So

it's quite clear our first thoughts are one of happiness that we're seeing this track, this iconic circuit. Let's go to some questions. P1, Patreon member, Amy, how do you think the track will suit this new generation of cars? Two long straights provide some great overtaking issues, but also means energy management will be an issue. I don't think it will be crazy bad. Obviously, I wanted Sopang to return because I think the way the, the, the, the, the, circuit is it's always provided great racing in regulations gone by.

You know, the reason we always hype it up is because it's got an amazing first sector where we saw yo-yo racing before yo-yo racing was even a thing because you could do switchbacks and the other person would then get a great run and overtake into the next corner. So I'm hopeful that we'll still see some fantastic racing there. in terms of energy and super clipping it's not i hope not going to be you know anything as bad as spar at the end of the day you've got a heavy breaking zone at turn one turn four turn nine turn 14 turn 15 so hopefully get you know a good amount of of charge um through the through the lap it won't be it won't be you know like a hungary or a monaco where they're able to just push flat

out. There'll definitely be some super clipping, I'm sure. But I don't think it's going to be an absolute you know, they're not going to run out of energy. Like we were saying at a spa, we hope. My goat, Tom Bellingham's

definitely got a circuit map up. There's no way. He's reeling off turn 14, turn 4, turn 7. Oh yeah. That's fair play. You've done your research. I have also got the map up but I remember it well you know I've done many many a lap round here on the F1 game back in the day what a track just looking at it makes me happy yeah I'm genuinely smiling just thinking about us racing here however I don't think these cars are going to be very good round here oh I don't yes we have a hard braking zone into

turn one then turn four as you say sure then we've got very fast five six seven eight sorry that's crazy um none of those are hard break breaking zones. So I think they're going to be recharging through five and six, then seven and eight, then you've got deploying, then you've got a hard breaking zone into nine, then 10, 11, 12, 13 and even 14 is not going to be massive on the brakes, I don't think. 14 will be reasonable, but it's still not a hairpin. Then you've got the

massively long straight to 15. Of course, heavy breaking zone, but if you remember, it's not a, it's not a hairpin, hairpin, it's reasonably wide. It's a very wide track. It is hard on the brakes. don't get me wrong, but they are also massively long straights. So I think to preserve my own happiness, I'm going to go into it thinking it's going to be pretty bad and then take anything that's better than that, which it could well be.

It does feel a little bit like, why have we got it back now for these regulations? You know what? Spin off these 2026 cars, just bring back some classics just for this one race. Just, yeah. When did the last race to her, 2017? I believe. Just go back in those cars for, I mean, as a Maxis, staff and fan, I'll take that.

2004. Let's do that. But what made this track so good was because back when there was, you know, no super clipping and no boosting and all that kind of stuff, we saw the overtakes in the breaking zone. That's where everything was done. And it allowed, yeah, like a brave move into term one, which they, and the other car could switch back, go offline. There was, if you remember the video we did with Alex Albin where he was rating circuits,

one of the things he said about interlagos being so good is you can do different lines and you can switch and you're basically getting rid of the dirty air. And I think that's exactly what happened with Sopang. So it was the perfect circuit for when we had this such problem with dirty air. It's still a bit of a guessing game for this one, but I'm going into it with a, you know, positive.

I like to see new tracks appear on the calendar. You know, it's going to be exciting to see. New old tracks. New old tracks, I guess. Yeah, exactly. No, I'm so excited. I'm just going to be happy to see it again. It's going to be like an old, long, lost friend.

Like, you know, there it is, Sapang, Malaysia, in the flesh. and not got long to wait October the 4th as I say. Yeah, quick turnaround has to be said. Yeah, it's almost like it's ready to go and perhaps just needed cash and now cash has been received. Let's go to a question for people on Patreon member,

Nutsja. Is it really necessary to replace the cancelled races? It is if it's Malaysia. No answer to that. Of course, Formula One will want to have a 24 race calendar. they make money when races are on. So can you be surprised if F1 as a business is trying to replace these cancelled races? I think if it makes sense, if it's possible, then yes.

We saw in the COVID times that F1 had to work extremely hard to make seasons work there. And I really enjoyed the sort of flavour of the season that came with all the different circuits. of course we did not enjoy the COVID times, but we were getting circuits that we hadn't seen in a very long time. Imola, out of nowhere, now just appearing on the calendar every so often. There's rumours that Imola might be

the finale, and I saw a hilarious video of someone on Twitter that was like, ah, if it's something like Imola finale colourised and then it's a video of Max Rastappen with the snow tires on doing his drifting. So I think it is necessary

if it makes sense. I want a longer season. I think fans want to see more races to a degree. So yeah, why not if we can make it work? Yeah, I am surprised that they've pushed this much to, you know, have more tracks on there. They love to make a song and dance about the fact that it's, you know, the longest calendar ever. And with the likelihood, obviously, it's not confirmed, but there's obviously with the current situation going on in the world, we've not had official confirmation, but we could well see the final two races of the year in Qatar and Abu Dhabi cancelled as well, which if that is the case, you know, you'd have a Las Vegas finale. And yeah, it's strange to me that they would place it within gaps where, you know, it's not like a situation where, oh, well, this race was going to run,

so it can go here. They're very much like looking at the calendar going, or we can't put it there because then that would be a quadruple header, or we put it in there, there'll be seven races in a row or something like that, that they've gone, that's going on holiday that week, let's put it in there.

But yeah, it's very, very odd that they've done it, but it's clearly it's money at the end of the day, isn't it? Like these circuits and places themselves, pay big money to host Formula, one races and clearly bar reyn are so keen to host a formula one race that they will host it in

another country if they have to which is it's giving official friend of formula one vibes isn't it where a track is able to host a race at a different circuit yes it's a it's a formula one pub quiz question in 10 years time isn't it where where was the barring robbery in 2026 no this one down everybody. In 20 years you could win a pub quiz when that gets put out there. P1Petri member, A Good Karen. Could this be the start of a campaign to return Sir Pang to the calendar full time?

I'd say don't hold your breath, but then we saw circuits appear on the calendar during COVID times. As you said, like your Imola's. And I remember thinking when Imola returned, well, as soon as things are back to normal and the normal calendar returns and we're racing around the world again, that's just going to drop off the calendar and straight away or immediately.

And it did stick around for quite a while. So I think if we do get a really good race there, if it's well attended, if there's a lot of hype around it, it could be the opportunity that, you know, maybe that that's needed for the Malaysian Grand Prix to return. You know, if it, yeah, because because they obviously think we can't take the risk on it. There's obviously extreme circumstances that have allowed this to happen. But if it is a raving success, then maybe, just maybe it, that, you know, this opens the window for it to return to the calendar full time because, yeah, there's been a few tracks like that. Turkey as another example thought soon as we're not going to you know that's going to just drop off

the calendar and we saw it for another another year so uh portemau as well that's actually coming back onto the calendar so i don't think it's a case of yeah i wouldn't put it past it returning and maybe i really hope i really hope so yeah well they need to sell half a million tickets basically is what i would then say to that to make it yeah true a success We need everybody to go to the Malaysian Grand Prix to make it a financial success. Of course, people are going to watch. But the government probably need more of a reason to really back it to return. Because I think that's the reason why it's not so far,

while they've not pitched to come back. It'd be a bit embarrassing if a graphic comes up saying the most attended Bahrain Grand Prix ever at 400,000 people. And they're like, oh, no, we don't want that. No, we don't want that. No, no, it can be the Malaysian Grand Prix now. No, we don't want the title rights. So there you go.

That is our little chat about Malaysia coming back. Very excited. If you were to pick, Tommy, one corner, considering, you know, you know the track off the back of your hand right now. What's the corner that you would say is your favorite corner at Malaysia? Ooh. Go on, give us one. Oh, that's so difficult because the best thing about Malaysia is the sequence of corners.

the entire circuit because one one two three and four is what i love about it most because it is that that's what created so much great racing but in terms of best corner maybe turn seven just because it feels a bit imler like um it's cool right-hander yeah double right hander seven and eight that's two corners again it's cheating yeah uh turn specifically turn seven is that that's a wild i'm just thinking of I've just like, it's fast. It's an impossible question. If you've got one, go for it.

Because I think it's impossible for me because I want to cheat and have multiple because I think. Yeah, well. I don't think it's a, for me, it's not a track that has like, oh my God, that corner is legendary. It's just a great track. O'Rouge, rally, actually. Exactly. That's exactly. Corners, mate, to be fair.

Yeah, no, it's true. There are some epic corners that make the list. I think if I was to pick one, it would be term one. I think it's China-esque, you know, one and two, of course, we can't. have two corners. Well, this is the thing. It can't have half grade. Yeah, turn 15 is an honourable mention.

I think turn five is also an honourable mention if they're not super clipping because it's just fast through there, but then again, it's also including six. So it's what is your two favourite corners? Yeah, yeah. Two favourite corners are one and two because they can switch back. And as much as it's, we don't like Formula One cars going slow. It's fun when they're switching. back and you've seen people go for a move at one and then run someone out wide and the other

person dives down the inside of two and they can it kind of goes slightly cambered downhill doesn't it? It's a great it's a great sequence of corners those two. It's a better it's a better version of China like you say about China. It's a better version of that. Relax. You know what I feel about the Shanghai International Circuit. Don't be coming for my go. But there you go. I hope you're everybody. I hope you're everybody. I hope you, everybody, are excited to see this comeback because we certainly are. Let's know your favourite two corners at Malaysia because you can't pick just one. And I guess, do you have any other final thoughts?

Final thoughts? We're probably just, I guess we'll save it for when maybe it's official or we find out. But these Imler rumours are ramping up, of course. This is official but in terms of actually you know Imla's not official yet but crazy to me that they would that that is in talks for the finale shows how desperate they are to get that back on the calendar so I'm curious to know how that's going to work and happen is that going to be another really bizarre situation where it's a different title. That's an insane finale if it's like four degrees and there's three three drivers that could win the world championship and it's who can drift on an ice rink.

They've seen Vegas and gone, no, we need a race afterwards. It's even colder. Exactly. Right. Thank you, everybody. We'll see you very soon. Bye. Goodbye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the Acast creator network.