{"id":3244,"date":"2026-10-02T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=3244"},"modified":"2026-10-02T07:15:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T10:15:30","slug":"what-time-is-f1-qualifying-at-sepang-saturday-fp3-and-qualifying-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/what-time-is-f1-qualifying-at-sepang-saturday-fp3-and-qualifying-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"What time is F1 qualifying at Sepang? Saturday FP3 and qualifying schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Qualifying starts at 16:00 local time on Saturday, 3 October<\/strong>, at Sepang.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FP3 begins earlier that day at 12:30 in Malaysia, equivalent to 05:30 in the UK.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>FP3 falls on Friday evening on North America\u2019s west coast<\/strong>, while qualifying takes place early on Saturday.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/\">Formula 1<\/a> qualifying at Sepang starts at <strong>16:00 Malaysia time on Saturday, 3 October<\/strong>. That is <strong>09:00 BST in the United Kingdom, 04:00 EDT in the United States and Canada, 13:30 IST in India and 18:00 AEST in Sydney and Melbourne<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before qualifying, drivers will have one final hour of practice. <strong>FP3 runs from 12:30 to 13:30 local time<\/strong>, giving teams their last scheduled opportunity to refine their cars before the grid-setting session. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What time does F1 qualifying start at Sepang?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Qualifying begins early on Saturday morning for North American viewers. Fans in New York and Toronto can follow the session from 04:00 EDT, while those in Los Angeles and Vancouver face a 01:00 PDT start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For British viewers, qualifying starts at 09:00 BST. In India, the session begins at 13:30 IST, while Australian audiences can watch during the evening: 18:00 in Sydney and Melbourne, 17:30 in Adelaide and 16:00 in Perth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Saturday FP3 and qualifying times<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Country or region<\/th><th>Time zone<\/th><th>FP3<\/th><th>Qualifying<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Malaysia \u2014 Sepang<\/td><td>MYT, UTC+8<\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>12:30<\/strong><\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>16:00<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>United Kingdom<\/td><td>BST, UTC+1<\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>05:30<\/strong><\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>09:00<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>US and Canada \u2014 New York, Toronto<\/td><td>EDT, UTC\u22124<\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>00:30<\/strong><\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>04:00<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>US and Canada \u2014 Chicago, Winnipeg<\/td><td>CDT, UTC\u22125<\/td><td>Fri 2 Oct, <strong>23:30<\/strong><\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>03:00<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>US and Canada \u2014 Denver, Calgary<\/td><td>MDT, UTC\u22126<\/td><td>Fri 2 Oct, <strong>22:30<\/strong><\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>02:00<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>US and Canada \u2014 Los Angeles, Vancouver<\/td><td>PDT, UTC\u22127<\/td><td>Fri 2 Oct, <strong>21:30<\/strong><\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>01:00<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>India<\/td><td>IST, UTC+5:30<\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>10:00<\/strong><\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>13:30<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Australia \u2014 Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane<\/td><td>AEST, UTC+10<\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>14:30<\/strong><\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>18:00<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Australia \u2014 Adelaide<\/td><td>ACST, UTC+9:30<\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>14:00<\/strong><\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>17:30<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Australia \u2014 Perth<\/td><td>AWST, UTC+8<\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>12:30<\/strong><\/td><td>Sat 3 Oct, <strong>16:00<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>All times are scheduled session starts. Australian times above apply to Saturday, before daylight saving begins in participating states on Sunday, 4 October.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is there a Sprint at Sepang?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>No. The Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia follows the traditional weekend format.<\/strong> Friday featured FP1 and FP2, with FP3 and qualifying on Saturday before Sunday\u2019s grand prix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Qualifying determines the starting order before any applicable penalties are applied. Drivers carrying grid penalties can therefore start below the position they achieve during Saturday\u2019s session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where can you watch FP3 and qualifying?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Viewing options depend on the country and the rights held by each broadcaster or streaming service. Check the <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/where-to-watch-the-bahrain-gp-in-malaysia-tv-and-streaming-guide-for-sepang\/\">Bahrain GP in Malaysia TV and streaming guide<\/a> for coverage in the UK, United States, India, Australia and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Check the session start separately from the broadcaster\u2019s programme time<\/strong>, as studio coverage may begin earlier. North American viewers should also note the Friday-to-Saturday date change for FP3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 continues this weekend, from 2\u20134 October, in Malaysia, which hosts the Bahrain Grand Prix. <strong>GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/strong> will cover all the action at Sepang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What time is F1 qualifying at Sepang in the UK?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Qualifying begins at <strong>09:00 BST on Saturday, 3 October<\/strong>. FP3 starts earlier at 05:30 BST.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What time is Sepang qualifying in the US and Canada?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Qualifying starts at <strong>04:00 EDT or 01:00 PDT on Saturday, 3 October<\/strong>. FP3 begins at 00:30 EDT on Saturday, or 21:30 PDT on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What time is F1 qualifying in India and Australia?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Qualifying begins at <strong>13:30 IST in India<\/strong> and <strong>18:00 AEST in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane<\/strong> on Saturday, 3 October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia begins on Saturday at 09:00 in the UK, 04:00 Eastern in the US and Canada, 13:30 in India and 18:00 in Sydney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020316658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Alexander Albon","42wp_featured_image_credits":"Williams","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[{"id":7,"location":""}],"footnotes":"","42wp_breaking_news":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[630,692,114,113],"42wp_author":[7],"class_list":["post-3244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-bahrain-grand-prix-in-malaysia","tag-f1-qualifying-time","tag-f1-schedule","tag-sepang","42wp_author-victor-martins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3245,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions\/3245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020316658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3244"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=3244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}