If rumours are to be believed, there's a good chance that you'll get to witness all that again in the very near future at the Sepang International Circuit.

Why the sudden talk of a return?

Image credit: SkySports

Unless you have been living under a huge rock, you'd probably heard about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

As a result of Russia's aggression, the world has condemned the Soviet state and has handed out sanctions. Unfortunately, that trickled into sports as well.

Last week, the UEFA Champions League moved their final from Russia to France, while the world football governing body FIFA has suspended Russia from the 2022 World Cup.

The effects of the war was felt in Formula 1 as well. The Haas Formula 1 team has dropped Russian driver Nikita Mazepin from its lineup, and the FIA ultimately terminated the Russian Grand Prix contract, which means that Russia will not be holding any Formula 1 races any time in the near future.

And that's where the Sepang International Circuit comes in.

Which circuit should replace Sochi this season? ? pic.twitter.com/uNTUCxPZea

— WTF1 (@wtf1official) March 3, 2022

Over the weekend, Twitter account @wtf1official ran a poll, asking its followers which Formula 1 circuit they would love to see replace Sochi Autodrom in this year's race calendar.

As you can probably guess, the Sepang Formula 1 circuit was one of the fans' top picks - so much so that 'Sepang' trended on Twitter on Friday night (4 March) with 7,324 likes, 3,995 comments, and 1,046 retweets.

That's a lot of interest from Formula 1 fans, don't you think?

Will it happen?

While it's nothing unusual for fan pages to run polls to interact with their followers, Formula 1's return to Malaysia gained some serious momentum when a couple of notable things happened over the weekend.

A local motorsport news outlet called Tarmacsportsmy reported that the management team of the Sepang International Circuit has conducted an emergency meeting with several parties about a possible Formula 1 return.

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A post shared by Tarmac Sports (M) (@tarmacsportsmy)

The report, however, was unverified, as the news of the emergency meeting was not reported by any other local media and the SIC did not confirm whether a meeting indeed took place.

Now, we usually take reports like these with a grain of salt, but SIC's official Twitter account did not help to quash the rumours. Instead, they added more fuel to the fire with some cryptic tweets.

Right after news broke about Sepang's possible return to the Formula 1 calendar (or rather, fans' wanting a possible Sepang return), the @sepangcircuit Twitter account sent out several tweets that set tongues wagging on Saturday (5 March), starting with this one:

Anyone mentioning Sepang? ?

— Sepang Circuit (@sepangcircuit) March 5, 2022

The tweet has so far garnered more than 15,600 likes and more than 2,500 retweets - which tells us that the admin knows what he/she is doing when sending out the tweet.

A few moments later, they sent out another tweet; this time, with an emoji of a racing bike and a race car, seemingly asking its followers which one they'd rather watch: the MotoGP or Formula 1:

? or ?

— Sepang Circuit (@sepangcircuit) March 5, 2022

Then, they stoked the fire even more by posting their most cryptic tweet of the day:

Hmm…

— Sepang Circuit (@sepangcircuit) March 5, 2022

Does this mean they are deep in thought and seriously thinking about it? Nevertheless, if it was SIC's intention to drum up as much excitement or support for a Formula 1 return with its cryptic tweets, well; we think it worked pretty darn good:

ADMIN MENGAPA TEASE US

— lillian o (@nothaugersform) March 5, 2022

WHAT HMM?????? ????? DONT PLAY WITH MY HEART ???

— moosh? (@rublevant) March 5, 2022

pleaseeeee~~ please make this happen.

— K (@kinj1105) March 5, 2022

Yooooo don't play mann...

— Aqiff Haziq (@aqiffhaziq) March 5, 2022

admin ilysm pls make this happen omggg f1 is back in sepang?

— AnfieldW (@AnfieIdW) March 5, 2022

Is that a yes or no for f1⁉️⁉️ ???

— ❁?????????❁ (@harizputera_) March 5, 2022

Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaasssssssse bring back f1

— Stacey Jones (@StaceyBioTeach) March 5, 2022

ADMIN JANGANLAH TEASE MACAM NIII ?

— Praveena ? (@PraveenaSV5) March 5, 2022

TELL US FFS DONT MAKE ME CHOKE

— Tohka (@tohka_aryani) March 5, 2022

Would it work though?

We think holding a Formula 1 race in Sepang might work as the circuit fits in firmly into this year's race calendar.

The Russia Grand Prix was supposed to be Race 17 in the calendar, and it was scheduled to take place from 23 to 25 September, right after the Italy Grand Prix on 9 to 11 September.

Right after that, the teams would fly to Singapore for the Singapore Grand Prix from 30 September to 2 October, before heading to Japan on 7 to 9 October.

Timing-wise, the fact that the two-week break from the Italy Grand Prix gives Formula 1 teams ample time to relocate to Sepang for the Asian leg of the race. Location-wise, slotting the Malaysia Grand Prix right before the Singapore and Japan races makes perfect sense.

However you look at it, the Sepang International Circuit is the perfect replacement track.

Having said that, the cost of hosting a Formula 1 race could be a huge roadblock though. The last time the Malaysia Grand Prix was held in Sepang was in 2017, quoting rising hosting fees and declining ticket sales as the main reasons for not continuing to host the race after that season.

But in 2019, then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had expressed interest in bringing the race back, so talks of the Malaysia Grand Prix returning isn't something new.

For now, this is all still a speculation until the FIA or the SIC finally confirms it, but seeing how the stars are aligning for a Malaysia Grand Prix return, it would be foolish for the authorities to not sit down and have a serious debate about it.

What do you guys think? Do you want to see Formula 1 return to Malaysia? We know we do.