SEPANG — Malaysian authorities have demolished the main grandstand at the Sepang International Circuit and replaced it with a single continuous concrete terrace running the entire 5.5-kilometre length of the track, so that every ticket holder can watch Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton start side by side from any point on the circuit.
The old structure came down in a ceremony lasting nine hours, during which the demolition crew worked in formation behind a pace car. «We could not accept that a fan in the final corner would miss the first corner,» said the circuit's director of spectator geometry. «Now the first corner is everywhere.»
Seating was assigned by qualifying gap. The 0.298-second margin between Verstappen and Hamilton was converted into a physical distance of 41 metres, and the two drivers will walk that exact distance to their cars at a measured pace, side by side, while the crowd counts the seconds aloud.
Ferrari has responded by ordering its own pit wall rebuilt as a two-storey viewing platform with a brass rail, from which team principal Frédéric Vasseur will watch the start through a fixed telescope. Red Bull, not to be outdone, has moved its entire garage operation onto the circuit's longest straight so that Isack Hadjar's five-place grid penalty can be served on foot, in view of the public.
The race is scheduled for Sunday at nine in the morning. Ticket holders have been instructed to arrive on Friday and to remain in their seats until the last car has passed them personally.